California celebrates Apple’s 50th Anniversary

SACRAMENTO - Founded on April 1, 1976, Apple has spent 50 years, right here in California, pioneering and designing the future. Apple's story is one of innovation, creativity, and determination-it is a Californian story at heart.

For 50 years, Apple has embodied and exemplified the best of California: 'thinking different,' boldly innovating, and empowering people to not only dream, but do. Apple revolutionized the world, making technology more accessible than ever and changing the very idea of what technology can do. This is the California Dream: innovation at its best, driven by the unparalleled talent we have here. Apple's success opened the door for so many others to succeed, and California is still the home of so many of those successes.

Governor Gavin Newsom

From the early days of computing to today's digital age, California has remained a driving force in global technology and innovation. As Apple marks its 50th anniversary, that legacy of innovation continues across California, where collaboration and creativity drive the next generation of technological advancement. From early breakthroughs to today's advancements, the work happening here continues to shape how people live and connect-driving progress well beyond California.

California's innovation economy dominates

California is home to 33 of the top 50 privately held AI companies worldwide and leads with 25% of all AI patents, conference papers, and companies. We lead U.S. demand for AI talent. In 2024, 15.7% of all U.S. AI job postings were in California - #1 by state, well ahead of Texas (8.8%) and New York (5.8%), per the 2025 Stanford AI Index.

California is home to three of the four companies that have passed the $3 trillion valuation mark: Google, Apple, and Nvidia. These California-based companies are tech companies involved in AI and have created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Birthplace of modern tech

California works closely to foster tech leadership and create an environment where industry and talent thrive-this is why California is home to the most tech companies in the nation. California, as the global leader in technology, is balancing its work to advance AI with commonsense laws to protect the public, while also embracing the technology to make our lives easier and make government more efficient, effective, and transparent.

California currently has laws that help:

• Foster and guide the development of frontier AI models
• Safeguard against the risks of catastrophic harms
• Create strong protocols for child safety and protections against self-harm
• Crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes and require AI watermarking
• Protect performers' digital likenesses
• Prevent scams from AI-generated robocalls