A series of recent job postings for Apple who are looking for both software and hardware engineers suggest the company is looking to begin its own chip development in Orlando, Florida.

The company is hiring a GPU Csim/Reference Model Engineer, 3D Graphics Micro-Architect, Design Verification Engineer, Logic Design Engineer, GPU Drivers Engineer, Front End Design Manager, and others.

All of these positions are located in Orlando. Qualcomm also has facilities in the area. The job posting are interesting as Samsung, which works with Apple to develop the custom chips used in iPhones and iPads, continues to compete with Apple in the smartphone and tablet space.

Another job posting from Apple is related to design verification. The jobs call for candidates who would be able to "develop verification plans, create verification test bench components, generate tests, run simulations, and debug design issues," among other tasks.

The job listings discovered by AppleInsider are the first sign that Apple is apparently planning to start hardware development in the Central Florida area.