SANTA CLARA — Porsche Digital, seeking to tap the know-how and cutting-edge technologies of Silicon Valley, is opening an office in Santa Clara, the sports car maker said Friday.

About 100 people will work in Porsche Digital’s new Santa Clara office. The office is now open, said Tanja Deutschenbaur, a Porsche spokeswoman. Deutschenbaur didn’t have the address.

“The car is the ultimate mobile device of the future, and the future is being written in Silicon Valley,” Thilo Koslowski, managing director of Porsche Digital, said in a prepared release.

The Porsche drive into Silicon Valley marks the latest effort by automakers to form beachheads in Silicon Valley.

“They are here for the talent in Silicon Valley,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “It’s a big labor pool, it’s talented, and automakers have to be where the action is.”

In addition to Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors and its electric vehicle factory in Fremont, an array of vehicle industry manufacturers with their home bases in Detroit, Europe, or Asia have opened outposts in Santa Clara County or nearby in a quest for the latest innovations.

“We have everybody here who is into the technologies for the car of the future,” Levy said.

Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab has facilities in Belmont; Hyundai Ventures is in Menlo Park; General Motors Advanced Technology and Ford Silicon Valley Lab are both in Palo Alto. Bosch Research and Technology Center North America, along with other Bosch units, is moving to Sunnyvale from Palo Alto. Toyota InfoTechnology Center USA, Honda Innovations, BMW Group Technology Office and Delphi Labs are in Mountain View. Nissan Research Center and Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America are in Sunnyvale. Continental tire company recently opened a San Jose office.

Porsche hopes the digital technology center will enable it to forge new partnerships, cooperate with venture capitalists and invest in new companies.

Porsche said the office will focus on digitalization, connectivity, and smart mobility.

“It is particularly important to be right next door to leading IT companies in the USA,” Koslowski said. “This allows us to identify trends early and invest in new technologies at the right time.”

Porsche Digital has already invested in a fund called E.ventures US.

“In addition to our own potential for innovation, above all we want to form strong partnerships,” Koslowski said. “To tailor the Porsche experience to the specific needs of our customers, we need to recognize the innovations that are relevant to us and bring them to the market.”

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