TOKYO (REUTERS) - Apple Inc is building a technical development centre in Japan, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on Tuesday, which a company spokesman later confirmed, saying that the plan calls for several dozen jobs to be created as a result.

"Apple has decided it undertake cutting-edge R&D in Japan,"Jiji news service quoted Abe as saying in a campaign speech outside of Tokyo ahead of a general election on Sunday. "It will be formally announced soon."

Abe said the facility will be on par with Apple's biggest technical development centres in Asia, Jiji and Kyodo news said, without offering any further detail.

An Apple spokesman in London said the new technical centre will be located in Yokohama, outside Tokyo, and will lead to the creation of dozens of new jobs.

Technical development centres typically are involved in aspects of new processes or products, rather than designing finished products.

All of Apple's research and new product development continues to be done from the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, the spokesman added.