SHANGHAI, March 17 -- Apple is to set up two more research and development (R&D) centers in Shanghai and Suzhou, following Beijing and Shenzhen.

Apple has committed to invest 3.5 billion yuan (500 million U.S. dollars) in the centers, according to an announcement on the company website Friday.

Apple's growing engineering and operation teams in China will focus on cooperating with local partners, according to the announcement.

Apple's R&D centers in China will seek graduates of China's leading universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Apple has been working with these universities on internship programs.

By expanding R&D in China, the company looks forward to working collaboratively with more local partners and academic institutions, said Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

Shanghai decided to transform itself into a global R&D center in 2014 while Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province is also a popular destination for foreign enterprises to build R&D centers.