CIO.com reports that Apple Computers has chosen North Carolina as the home for their new $1 billion dollar data center. Apple plans to build out their new data center to full capacity over a course of 9 years and has not yet revealed what the exact location of the new data center or its intended purpose. In comparison, the typical capital spend by Google or Microsoft for their large data centers that house and power their cloud computing platforms is $500 to $600 million. This may reveal a long-term strategy from Apple, perhaps on expanding/evolving the MobileMe service or bringing to bear their own set of SaaS or streaming applications.
North Carolina passed specific legislation that gives tax incentives to corporate income taxes that are calculated for extremely large capital-extensive operations. Conveniently, a week after that legislation passed, Apple had received a signed bill that gives them ~$46 million in tax breaks over a course of 10 years. One of the stipulations for the tax breaks is that they must build in an economically depressed county to provide a sort of local stimulus. The North Carolina Department of Commerce states that Apple will create more than 3,000 jobs in the region with their $1 Billion investment.
A quiet and bold move for Apple and with almost everything major they do mum is the word. Apple does not make these large moves without a very good reason and the net is already a buzz with speculation on what it will be used for. I can guess what ever it is, their next major products or services will more than likely be fueled by this large infrastructure investment.
Danny Kim
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