Apple to invest $1B in Nevada data center, business facilities

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Apple is looking to sink $1 billion over the next ten years into a Reno, NV project that will include a data center dedicated to iCloud and a separately-located business and purchasing development.

According to online postings from city and county officials uncovered by the Reno Gazette Journal, the deal was months in the making and encompasses both a downtown Reno data center and "business park" as well as a recently-proposed separate 2,200 acre data farm near Sparks, NV.

The developers behind the massive undertaking, dubbed Project Jonathan, said that while the Reno facilities have been under planning for years, Apple only approached local and state officials about the Sparks center earlier this year.

Being developed by Unique Infrastructure Group, LLC, the Reno Technology Park will feature 1.5 million square feet of space for Apple's data center and is expected to go online later in 2012.

A report from consulting firm Applied Economics estimates that the overall economic impact of the project will be some $343 million while tax revenue from Apple over the next ten years is seen as netting local and state governments $16 million. The Cupertino, Calif. company will be getting an $89 million tax break including an 85 percent reduction in personal property tax for 10 to 30 years. Apple's effective sales tax rate is expected to be less than one percent.

Much like Apple's Maiden, NC data center, the 2,200-acre unit near Sparks will use renewable energy sources. A 2010 report from Data Center Knowledge claims initial plans for the project are set to include on-site power generation including 100 megawatts of wind power, up to 20 megawatts of geothermal energy and solar power from a 20-megawatt photovoltaic installation.

Reno Map
Map of Apple's planned Reno project. | Source: Washoe County


The Reno Technology Park site will create about 580 construction jobs that bring an estimated $103 million boost to the local economy. Following completion of the data center, Apple plans to keep a permanent staff of about 35 full-time workers who will receive salaries of at least $25 per hour, according to a corporate letter addressed to the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Apple's downtown Reno project is located in the Tessera district and will take the place of derelict properties that were purchased over a number of years by Northern Nevada Urban Development.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24


    Building any type of long term business in Nevada or other desert states in the west is foolish. They already have a water supply problem. When it gets worse there will be rationing all of the time and eventually it will need to be trucked in. Maybe when the water is gone Apple can pay employees to stay in a nearly abandoned city just the way seamen get paid for staying at sea for months at a time. They can rotate employees and have food shipped to the facility since there won't be any grocery stores open there.


     


    The western desert states aren't out of water yet but they're getting there fast. Maybe all of the tax breaks make it worthwhile.

     

  • Reply 2 of 24
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    <vc><strong>Apple is looking to sink $1 billion over the next ten years into a Reno, NV project that will include a data center dedicated to iCloud and a separately-located business and purchasing development.</strong>
    According to online postings from city and county officials <a href="http://renomemo.rgj.com/apple-looking-to-open-facility-in-reno/">uncovered</a> by the <em>Reno Gazette Journal</em>, the deal was months in the making and encompasses both a downtown Reno data center and "business park" as well as a recently-proposed separate 2,200 acre data farm near Sparks, NV.
    The developers behind the massive undertaking, dubbed Project Jonathan, said that while the Reno facilities have been under planning for years, Apple only approached local and state officials about the Sparks center earlier this year.
    Being developed by Unique Infrastructure Group, LLC, the Reno Technology Park will feature 1.5 million square feet of space for Apple's data center and is expected to go online later in 2012.
    A report from consulting firm Applied Economics estimates that the overall economic impact of the project will be some $343 million while tax revenue from Apple over the next ten years is seen as netting local and state governments $16 million. The Cupertino, Calif. company will be getting an $89 million tax break including an 85 percent reduction in personal property tax for 10 to 30 years. Apple's effective sales tax rate is expected to be less than one percent.
    Much like Apple's Maiden, NC data center, the 2,200-acre unit near Sparks will use renewable energy sources. A 2010 report from <em>Data Center Knowledge</em> claims <a href="up to 20 megawatts of geothermal energy">initial plans</a> for the project are set to include on-site power generation including 100 megawatts of wind power, up to 20 megawatts of geothermal energy and solar power from a 20-megawatt photovoltaic installation.
    <div align="center"><img src="http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/12.06.26-Map.jpg" alt="Reno Map" width="600" height="416" border="0"><br><span class="minor2">Map of Apple's planned Reno project. | Source: <a href="http://www.co.washoe.nv.us/">Washoe County</a></span></div>
    The Reno Technology Park site will create about 580 construction jobs that bring an estimated $103 million boost to the local economy. Following completion of the data center, Apple plans to keep a permanent staff of about 35 full-time workers who will receive salaries of at least $25 per hour, according to a corporate letter addressed to the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.

    This does not compute.

    They just aproached the state and city earlier this year. They haven't started construction. They're building a 1.5 M square foot data center - and filling it with equipment. Yet they plan to be online later this year? I'll believe it when I see it.
    Building any type of long term business in Nevada or other desert states in the west is foolish. They already have a water supply problem. When it gets worse there will be rationing all of the time and eventually it will need to be trucked in. Maybe when the water is gone Apple can pay employees to stay in a nearly abandoned city just the way seamen get paid for staying at sea for months at a time. They can rotate employees and have food shipped to the facility since there won't be any grocery stores open there.

    The western desert states aren't out of water yet but they're getting there fast. Maybe all of the tax breaks make it worthwhile

    Fortunately, a data center is not a huge water user. Just drinking water for the employees, water for cleaning, and that's about it. With 35 full time workers, trucking in water won't be an issue - even if things get as bad as you predict.
  • Reply 3 of 24
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I'm glad to see Apple investing in data centers but I'd like to see more and faster growth in this segment. Anything to speed up and add redundancy to their cloud-based services is fine by me. Let's get a dozen of these for the US and one all the other countries to share.
  • Reply 4 of 24
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member


    I hope they dedicate about 5% of this data center to simply supporting the Contacts section of iCloud. It's slow. 

  • Reply 5 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Smallwheels View Post


    Building any type of long term business in Nevada or other desert states in the west is foolish. They already have a water supply problem. When it gets worse there will be rationing all of the time and eventually it will need to be trucked in. Maybe when the water is gone Apple can pay employees to stay in a nearly abandoned city just the way seamen get paid for staying at sea for months at a time. They can rotate employees and have food shipped to the facility since there won't be any grocery stores open there.


     


    The western desert states aren't out of water yet but they're getting there fast. Maybe all of the tax breaks make it worthwhile.

     



    Reno gets quite a bit of snowpack runoff. They have their up years and down years. Nevada means snow on top in Spanish. It is a big state with many different climate categories. It is difficult to predict rainfall amounts from year to year because there is a lot of climate change going on worldwide lately.

  • Reply 6 of 24
    aenghusaenghus Posts: 14member


    Take a look at a map, Dr. Doom. Reno is at the eastern foot of the snowy Sierra Nevadas, where melted snow usually fills our bathtubs all summer long.

  • Reply 7 of 24
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member


    In related news, Apple is buying Las Vegas and renaming it iVegas!

  • Reply 8 of 24
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member


    Ya know what... Screw this.  They missed out on Motorola Mobility. They missed out on the largest wireless spectrum auction in history. Apple should spend every available cent they have buying up every patent on planet earth. And also pick up that little squashed bug on the windshield called Nokia while they're at it.

  • Reply 9 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    In related news, Apple is buying Las Vegas and renaming it iVegas!



    Las Vegas and Apple are not a good fit. Perhaps they should buy Radiator Springs. Oh Wait...Cars Land is in Anaheim.

  • Reply 10 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    After a brief study of the map/drawing I find it interesting that even though it is a recent drawing there are three different references to Nevada Bell, Bell Telephone of Nevada and Bell Telephone all of which are no longer in existence. It is quite common for telecommunications network domains to support legacy naming such as sbc.com or pacbell.net but I find it curious to see it on plot plans for easements. Although I did see some paint highlighting on the street recently marking underground cables for MCI.

  • Reply 11 of 24
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    I'm glad to see Apple investing in data centers but I'd like to see more and faster growth in this segment. Anything to speed up and add redundancy to their cloud-based services is fine by me. Let's get a dozen of these for the US and one all the other countries to share.


     


    One billion dollars.


     


    That's an awful lot of hard drives and hamsters in wheels.


     


    hamster-wheel-motorcycle-797970.jpg


     


    One thing about Apple's cloud system that I'm not totally satisfied with is the way certain apps (Mail, Notes, iWork, etc...) synchronise only when accessed, so you frequently have to wait a few seconds for this to occur after opening them.


     


    This is a waste of time, especially when you may change a single letter in a text document and, as a result, then have to endure 30 seconds of iCloud synchronisation.


     


    Hopefully PowerNap implementation across all of their devices in the near future will address this.

  • Reply 12 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    I'm glad to see Apple investing in data centers but I'd like to see more and faster growth in this segment. Anything to speed up and add redundancy to their cloud-based services is fine by me. Let's get a dozen of these for the US and one all the other countries to share.

    Talking of Apple's investments, what are your thoughts on the likelyhood of Apple's participation in the upcoming spectrum auction?
  • Reply 13 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    gtr wrote: »
    One billion dollars.

    That's an awful lot of hard drives and hamsters in wheels.

    LL

    One thing about Apple's cloud system that I'm not totally satisfied with is the way certain apps (Mail, Notes, iWork, etc...) synchronise only when accessed, so you frequently have to wait a few seconds for this to occur after opening them.

    This is a waste of time, especially when you may change a single letter in a text document and, as a result, then have to endure 30 seconds of iCloud synchronisation.

    Hopefully PowerNap implementation across all of their devices in the near future will address this.

    I suspect Apple have far more up their sleeves for the use of cloud technology that the current applications. I'm thinking a massive move into ios based purchasing systems for one.
  • Reply 14 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    mstone wrote: »
    Reno gets quite a bit of snowpack runoff. They have their up years and down years. Nevada means snow on top in Spanish. It is a big state with many different climate categories. It is difficult to predict rainfall amounts from year to year because there is a lot of climate change going on worldwide lately.

    Oh that's good to hear you say, so there are at least two of us in the USA that believe CC exists!
  • Reply 15 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Oh that's good to hear you say, so there are at least two of us in the USA that believe CC exists!


    Yeah, in Central America there has been way too much rain in the past 5 years. It is seriously hurting my coffee.

  • Reply 16 of 24
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Talking of Apple's investments, what are your thoughts on the likelyhood of Apple's participation in the upcoming spectrum auction?


     


    Whatever happened to all that "white space" spectrum that analog TV broadcasters used to use? Was it sold off?

  • Reply 17 of 24
    I'm sure once the tax-subsidies end, Apple will high-tail it out of NV, blaming an unfriendly business climate. And, as usual, taxpayers will continue to pay the bill.
    It happens daily across the US.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    I'm sure once the tax-subsidies end, Apple will high-tail it out of NV, blaming an unfriendly business climate. And, as usual, taxpayers will continue to pay the bill.
    It happens daily across the US.

    Maybe. Maybe not.

    How is Google and Samsung going in Nevada?
  • Reply 19 of 24
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    With all these data centers, could you PLEASE bring iDisk back?
  • Reply 20 of 24
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    I'm sure once the tax-subsidies end, Apple will high-tail it out of NV, blaming an unfriendly business climate. And, as usual, taxpayers will continue to pay the bill.
    It happens daily across the US.

    Could have sworn Nevada was doing pretty well right now.
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