News
Email
Print
Governor says Apple chooses N.C. for data center
Site for center has not been determined
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: June 2, 2009
Updated: 06/03/2009 02:35 pm
RALEIGH - RALEIGH -- Gov. Bev Perdue said today that Apple Inc. will build a new data center in North Carolina, with an expected investment of more than $1 billion over nine years.
"North Carolina continues to be a prime location for growing and expanding global technology companies," Perdue said. "We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state."
These facilities, also called server farms, are huge, climate-controlled computer warehouses that can process vast flows of data needed as business functions and everyday life increasingly depend on Internet traffic.
The announcement comes after Perdue signed Senate Bill 575.
The Senate voted 40-8 Monday to go along with conditions including that the company invest in a rural area.
The facility is expected to employ at least 50 full-time employees. The legislation requires that the average wage exceed the wage standard of the county in which it's built.
The site of the center has not been announced. It must be based in one of the state's more economically distressed Tier 1 or Tier 2 areas.
State law requires the department to rank the economic health of all 100 counties. The rankings are based primarily on an assessment of each county's unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and assessed property valuation per capita.
The designations offer corporations more incentive to invest in economically distressed areas. A Tier 1 designation means the county is among the state's 40 most economically distressed counties.
Counties in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina that qualify for the Apple project are:
Tier 1 - Alleghany, Rockingham, Surry and Wilkes.
Tier 2 - Alamance, Ashe, Davidson, Davie, Randolph, Stokes, Watauga and Yadkin.
"During these tough economic times, it's important to make the investments that create jobs in areas that need them the most," Perdue said.
The bill would give the qualifying company a break on state corporate income taxes.
The tax break could be worth about $46 million in the next 10 years, assuming Apple reaches its $1 billion investment target within nine years of starting, according to a memo by legislative fiscal staff members.
The state Commerce Department projects that a data center investment of $1 billion would create more than 3,000 jobs in the regional economy, including hundreds of jobs related to construction and others created as a result of economic growth.
"We are very pleased the General Assembly has recognized the role capital-intensive industries play in the state's economy and their relationship to small businesses in our communities," said Keith Crisco, the state's Commerce secretary.
"Technology-driven projects like this may bring fewer overall jobs than traditional industry, but they have a tremendous economic impact through locally purchased goods and services."
Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, urged rejection. He had previously lambasted business recruiters and legislators for focusing on high-profile, big companies and ignoring small businesses.
Sen. David Hoyle, R-Gaston, said that small companies near the site of a promised data center would benefit by providing services.
"There is a lot in this for small businesses," Hoyle said.
Data centers are heavy users of power and water and are usually spread over large spaces. Google Inc. opened one last year near Lenoir in the Western North Carolina foothills.
In 2007, state and local governments offered Google an incentives package worth up to $260 million over 30 years, one of the largest in state history, to land the $600 million data complex.
If the Apple project also remained active for 30 years, its server farm could save more than $300 million on its corporate taxes, based on legislative staff members' estimates.
Email
Print
