North Carolina set to become the next big tech-oriented area in US

Apple is set to follow on the footsteps of Google and Facebook by constructing its new $1 billion, 500,000-square foot data center in North Carolina, a report on Computer World said.

Maiden, North Carolina, with a population of about 3,409 may seem a strange destination for Apple’s billion dollar project but the relatively low-cost land and cheap electricity is too much of an offer for Apple to resist.

Google has already established a $600 million data center in Lenior, NC and Facebook is in the process of building a $450 million, 300,000 square foot data center in Forrest City.

Scott Miller, president of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation, said when Google announced its plans about the data center in 2007, he knew that this would draw the attention of other tech companies.

He added that Apple’s new data center has made the area more interesting for other firms and will look forward to invest, which is a great prospect for the future generation.

North Carolina’s promising electric grid and the long history of textile and furniture manufacturing, which are both power-intensive industries, makes the area appealing for investors.

Maybe the best feature any company would get from investing here is the scope of expansion. According to Miller, Apple is only occupying 200 acres which is a very small part of the site.

Apple’s data Center is expected to create nearly 50 direct and more than 200 indirect jobs in the area. The construction of the building alone created jobs for nearly 3,000 people, it said.