Apple Plans $1b investment in NC for Server Farm
Apple Plans $1b investment in NC for Server Farm: North Carolina lawmakers are pushing to give Apple Inc. a multi-million dollar tax break should the company bring an East Coast computer server farm to the state, an estimated $1 billion investment, according to a state official with knowledge of the recruitment efforts.
The deal would give the tax breaks to companies with a minority market share in North Carolina, but with a disproportionately large amount of property and staff located in the region. Apple would stand to save as much as $46 million in the space of 10 years but, in return, would have to invest $1 billion within nine years and locate itself in one of the state’s poorer counties; Catawba and Cleveland counties are on the short list.
The operation is expected to begin as a data center, essentially a giant warehouse of computer servers, likely to run company services such as the iTunes music store and the application store for its popular iPhone mobile computer.
The N.C. Senate passed an incentive package two weeks ago that will “change some tax structure to be friendlier to bring in this company,” Clary said. “It’s a bigger picture because now we are set to bring in companies, many of them that are exiting from California and the situation that is in California for business.”
The tax changes would affect the way corporate income taxes are calculated by giving breaks to companies with a relatively small share of U.S. sales in North Carolina but which have large shares of their nationwide property and payroll in the state.
Apple wants to be in North Carolina and has keyed in on sites in an area roughly west of Charlotte and east of Asheville. Virginia, though, is the main competitor for the facility and has committed to a more favorable tax structure. Apple wants a change in North Carolina to seal the deal.
The conditions adopted Thursday, if approved by both legislative chambers and the governor, would push the project from the state’s urbanized corridor connecting Raleigh to Greensboro and Charlotte. In 2007, Google Inc. committed to spending $600 million for a server farm near Lenoir in the western North Carolina foothills. It opened last year.
There have been reports that Apple may further expand their online services in the future with the possibility of web versions of some of their existing applications.
