APPLE Inc is expanding the size of its Cupertino, California, home base, acquiring nearby facilities from computer pioneer and competitor Hewlett Packard Co.

The offices will give the maker of the iPhone more room for its employees as the firm continues to grow, an Apple spokesman said.

"We now occupy 57 buildings in Cupertino, and our campus is bursting at the seams," he said.

Apple's real estate deal was first reported by The San Jose Mercury News, which said it would give Apple an extra 396,592 square meters of land, roughly doubling the size of the company's base in Cupertino.

Apple, which had 46,600 full-time employees globally at the end of September, did not disclose the price it paid for the HP real estate.