Steve Jobs, the billionaire co-founder of Apple Computer, made a surprise appearance at the Cupertino City Council meeting this week to announce his company's plans to build a second major campus on 50 acres.

Jobs, whose announcements normally command legions of onlookers on the international stage, said Apple's growth over the past six years sent the company scrounging for space to hold employees.

"We've rented every scrap of building we can find in Cupertino to put our people, and they just keep getting further and further away from the campus, ''Jobs said Tuesday. Wearing his signature jeans and a black mock turtleneck, Jobs spoke before a nearly empty council chambers. Jobs said Apple leases space in about 30 nearby buildings. "The whole situation's pretty inefficient and frustrating.''

Apple has mostly its iPod music player to thank for its changed fortunes. Ten years ago the company, a perennial underdog to Microsoft and Intel, was struggling for its life and rumored to be considering buyout offers from the likes of Sun Microsystems. But since Jobs returned to the company's helm and launched the iPod, Apple has evolved into a digital media powerhouse.

Jobs said he expects the campus, about a mile from Apple's headquarters, will take three or four years to design and build. Apple bought nine contiguous pieces of land for the project, and hopes the campus will hold up to 3,500 workers.

Apple declined to say how much it will pay for the land -- Jobs said Tuesday it was more than the company initially planned to spend.

"We didn't think we could do it in Cupertino because there ain't a lot of apricot orchards left in Cupertino, ''he said. "It was more expensive, a lot more expensive than we could get elsewhere, but it was something where we could stay in the area that we like the best.''

Apple's deal for the land is not yet final. Cupertino officials would have to approve any development plan for the property, which is roughly bounded by Interstate 280, Pruneridge Avenue, North Wolfe Road and Tantau Avenue.

Judging by the reaction Jobs received during and after the meeting Tuesday -- hearty applause followed his comments -- city officials will be eager to make things work for Apple, the biggest contributor to the city's tax base ahead of Hewlett-Packard, Target, Sears and J.C. Penney.

City officials said they couldn't reveal how much in sales taxes individual companies generate, but that in total, Cupertino businesses were expected to register $9.5 million in tax revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, up 13 percent from the year before.

"They basically started right here in Cupertino, and they've been here about 30 years,'' Cupertino Councilman Orrin Mahoney said. "It's nice to know that still means something.''

Mahoney said city leaders were relieved that Apple is able to stay, given how little undeveloped space there is in Cupertino.

"That was the best news,'' he said. "Smaller companies can come and go, but when a company like HP or Apple needs to expand and they leave, that's a big hit.''

"We didn't know this was coming,'' Cupertino City Manager David Knapp said. He said the property is studded with aging office buildings that are "probably way underutilized. ''The buildings, some of which have housed HP workers, would be demolished.

Most employees who work for businesses on the land Apple is seeking said they didn't know Apple hoped to move there. Businesses in a strip mall across the street on Wolfe Road looked forward to more lunchgoers.

"The owner will be happy. It will be good for business,'' said Richard Lao, a cook at Wolfe Cafe. Lao said it would be good for the waiters, too, because they'll get more tips. "For me, maybe it will be bad news,'' he joked.

Nicolas Sanchez, 27, a dishwasher at the restaurant said he wasn't looking forward to more traffic and crowds because of the new campus, but said it might make his job more exciting.

"With more people, there is more drama,'' he said.