Apple confirms $1.3B Iowa data center, says operations will start in 2020

As anticipated, Apple on Thursday confirmed plans to build a new data center in Waukee, Iowa, which it says will cost $1.3 billion, plus up to $100 million more for a "Public Improvement Fund."

The complex, near Des Moines, will span 400,000 square feet, and handle services like Siri, iMessage, and the App Store, Apple said. Power will stem entirely from renewable energy, including "wind and other sources."

The Public Improvement Fund will be managed by the City of Waukee and develop "community projects like parks, libraries and recreational spaces, as well as infrastructure needs." The first planned effort is construction of the Waukee Youth Sports Campus, which will include fields, a greenhouse, a playground, and even a fishing pier.

It should take some time for the Fund to hit the $100 million mark, as the company will only be paying in about $1 million per year.

Similarly, though Apple indicated the data center should create "over 550 construction and operations jobs," it's likely that just 50 of those will be permanent. Apple is receiving some $213 million in incentives from state and local government.

Construction should start in early 2018, and bring the center online by 2020.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is slated to appear in Des Moines for the announcement, and will visit students at the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center alongside Governor Kim Reynolds.

20 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 7 years ago

It's outrageous that these cities and states extort large businesses to provide all of these "extras" to pander to the residents instead of being grateful the businesses decided to locate there and bring business and jobs to their area.

Roger_Fingas 148 comments · 8 Years

SpamSandwich said:

It's outrageous that these cities and states extort large businesses to provide all of these "extras" to pander to the residents instead of being grateful the businesses decided to locate there and bring business and jobs to their area.

Please note that they're giving out a lot more in incentives than they're getting from the Fund.

LoneStar88 325 comments · 9 Years

SpamSandwich said:

It's outrageous that these cities and states extort large businesses to provide all of these "extras" to pander to the residents instead of being grateful the businesses decided to locate there and bring business and jobs to their area.

Nice armchair QBing there pal!

zoetmb 2655 comments · 17 Years

SpamSandwich said:

It's outrageous that these cities and states extort large businesses to provide all of these "extras" to pander to the residents instead of being grateful the businesses decided to locate there and bring business and jobs to their area.

It's outrageous that these highly profitable companies extort cities and states to provide these "extra" $213 million in incentives in order to create just 50 permanent jobs. That's $4.26 million per job. How does that make any sense? Why bother? This is just so politicians can claim they created jobs. Hell, pay me $4.26 million per employee and I'll hire every single unemployed person in Iowa. They don't even have to work. I'll just send them a check for $50,000 every year for the next 40 years and I'll keep the other $2.26 million per employee! Hell...I'll pay them $75K per year each and I'll keep the other $1.26 million per employee...why be greedy?

A $100 million fund, but Apple pays only $1 million per year? Is that a joke? So Iowa can pay off the public facilities they're going to build in 2117?

And it's costing Apple $3250 per square foot to build the place (including land costs I would assume). That sounds kind of costly to me considering it's not much more than a warehouse with a lot of air conditioning.

gmgravytrain 884 comments · 8 Years

Does anyone know what Apple uses its data centers for that it needs so many? Apple isn't like Google or Amazon running cloud storage, cloud processing, and streaming video, so what's the need? Is it possible Apple is just getting prepared for some future need for storage? Every other tech company boasts of profitable cloud services except Apple. Apple may have some cloud business but it likely doesn't bring in very much revenue. Apple doesn't offer cloud storage or processing for other companies. I honestly don't understand why Apple needs so many data centers for what basically amounts to internal use only. Does Apple even offer reasonable rates for Apple cloud storage users?