Dive Brief:
- Apple announced Thursday it plans to purchase 2,000 acres in Waukee, Iowa for a $1.375 billion project creating two new data centers, according to Reuters. Apple already has data centers in California, Nevada, Oregon and North Carolina.
- The Iowa Economic Development Authority and Waukee city council approved $207.8 million in incentives — the majority of which is a $188.2 million property tax abatement. The company will also receive $19.65 million in tax credits for opening up new jobs.
- At a press conference announcing the new project, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the new data centers in Iowa, which will run entirely on renewable energy, will be critical for the future growth and success of the App Store.
Dive Insight:
Creating Apple services such as Siri, iTunes and the App Store requires huge amounts of computing power. As these services continue to grow, Apple needs more capacity to handle the demand.
Apple won’t be alone in Iowa. Facebook, Google and Microsoft all have data centers in that state as well. Iowa offers cheap land and attractive building incentives, so tech companies are taking advantage of those perks to build datacenters.
The tech investments in Iowa may be turning the state into a new tech hub, according to experts. A technology corridor centered around Des Moines offers an alternative to the West Coast right in the heartland of America.
