Bay Area Surgical Device Maker Plans 1.2M SF Expansion
Intuitive Surgical to build 847K SF plant, 354K office building next to its Sunnyvale HQ.
A leading manufacturer of medical devices used in robotic surgery has filed for a construction permit to build an 847K SF manufacturing and R&D facility next to its HQ in Sunnyvale, as well as 354K SF of new office space.
Intuitive Surgical will redevelop three sites on 32 acres on both sides of Kilfer Road, where it has its headquarters, according to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
The surgical device maker is planning to build a 364K SF office building on a parcel on Kilfer Road currently occupied by a company fitness center and parking lot. The company also plans to construct an 11K SF amenity building for employees who work at the new office location.
On the southern side of Kilfer Road, Intuitive Surgical plans a three-story 847K SF manufacturing and research facility. The company also will build a five-level parking garage with a capacity for 1,700 cars.
The new manufacturing plant will be constructed on the site of an abandoned 60-year-old Mohawk Labs chemical plant and a 105K SF R&D facility built in 1986.
Intuitive Surgical is planning to connect the new office building and the plant with a 500-foot pedestrian bridge spanning Kilfer Road. The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
According to the architects, the buildings will feature curved roofs, with a wall of paneled glass and angled skylights that evoke old-fashioned factory buildings but offer ample indoor atriums.
In October 2020, Intuitive Surgical added a 310K SF building to the Kilfer Road complex for its instruments and accessories division.
According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Santa Clara-based Agilent Technologies is the largest medical device manufacturer in the Bay Area, with 17,000 employees worldwide and more than $6B in annual revenue.
Founded in 1995, Intuitive Surgical is the second-largest medical device maker in the Bay Area, employing more than 2,000 workers in Sunnyvale and nearly 10K worldwide, with revenue of $5.71B in 2021.
San Ramon-based Cooper Companies; Omnicell, based in Mountain View; and Alamdea-based Penumbra round out the top five on the Journal’s list of leading Bay Area medical device makers.
According to Crunchbase, more than 800 medical device manufacturers are located in the Bay Area, making it one of the leading medical device hubs in the US, along with Minneapolis and Memphis.
According to Intuitive Surgical’s website, more than 10M surgical procedures have been performed using the company’s da Vinci and Ion robotic systems. Intuitive is integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence into its robotic medical devices.