HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories), was the research arm of the Hughes Aircraft Company. Its dedicated research center was established in 1960 in Malibu. Currently owned by General Motors Company and Boeing, the research facility is housed in two large, white multi-storey buildings overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
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In the 1940s, Howard Hughes created a R&D facility in Culver City, California; by 1960, it moved to Malibu, California. In 1984 the U.S. Federal Courts declared in a court case that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in order to retain its non-profit status, must divest itself of Hughes Aircraft Company and subsidiaries. General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft in 1985, and almost immediately began selling off parts of the company. GM sold the Hughes aerospace and defense operations to Raytheon in 1997, and spun off Hughes Research Laboratories (legally renamed "HRL Laboratories, LLC"), with GM and Raytheon as co-owners. GM sold the Hughes satellite operations to Boeing in 2000, and the co-owners became Boeing, GM, and Raytheon. In 2007, Raytheon decided to sell its stake, though it still maintains research and contractual relations with HRL. For more details, please see Hughes Aircraft. HRL receives funding from its LLC partners, US defense contracts, and other commercial customers.
HRL focuses on advanced developments in microelectronics, information & systems sciences, materials, sensors, and photonics; their workspace spans from basic research to product delivery. It has particularly emphasized capabilities in high performance integrated circuits, high power lasers, antennas, networking, and smart materials.
With downsizing during the aerospace industry's contraction of the 1990s, HRL still continues to be the largest employer in Malibu.