Anduril Expands to 2.4M Square Feet Across Orange County in Rapid Growth
Anduril has leased nearly 2.4 million square feet across at least 15 Orange County properties since 2017, including new major offices in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, as it becomes the region's largest defense employer.
What happened
Anduril Industries signed leases for two large office spaces in Orange County. The first is 70,640 square feet across three floors at Plaza Tower in Costa Mesa, a 21-story landmark building originally designed as IBM's Southern California headquarters. The second is 102,400 square feet at Koll Center Newport in Newport Beach, where Anduril will occupy floors 1 through 4 and 6 through 8 starting in December.
These leases are part of a broader expansion. Since its founding in 2017, Anduril has accumulated nearly 2.4 million square feet of space at 15 or more Orange County properties. An Anduril spokesperson said the company now employs 6,500 people in Orange County, with about 5,200 full-time. This makes Anduril Orange County's largest defense and aerospace employer, surpassing Boeing's local workforce of roughly 5,200.
Anduril is also building a $1 billion, 1.2-million-square-foot headquarters campus in Long Beach near the airport, which broke ground this year and is expected to open in mid-2027. That campus is projected to support 5,500 on-site jobs plus thousands more through Southern California suppliers.
Background
Anduril Industries, founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey and Brian Schimpf with other entrepreneurs, is a U.S. defense-technology company that develops autonomous drones (including the Ghost and Ghost X), weapons systems and military software for the Department of Defense, law enforcement and allied governments. The company began with an 8,000-square-foot facility in Tustin and has grown rapidly. Orange County's aerospace and defense sector was built decades ago by giants like Hughes Aircraft and Rockwell but contracted sharply after the Cold War. A new generation of companies—including Anduril, Mach Industries, Karman Space & Defense and Turion Space—is revitalizing the region.
What to watch next
The Long Beach–Lakewood headquarters campus is scheduled to open in mid-2027. Watch for updates on hiring progress and whether Anduril consolidates or expands further in Orange County as it executes its growth plans.
Sources
- Original report: Anduril Gobbles Up Space in Orange County and Southern California (Orange County Business Journal, Nov 2, 2026) Mainstream media
Written by Anduril News with AI assistance from the original report and other coverage, in plain English. It can contain mistakes; check the original for anything important. How we write these.
