Apple has announced that it will be spending €1.7B ($1.92B) on two new European data centers, each of which will be among the largest in the world at 166,000 square metres (1.8M square feet)–three times larger than the company’s North Carolina facility.
One will be in Ireland, the other in Denmark, with each set to begin operations in 2017. Apple says that the facilities will provide online services across Europe, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Apple Maps and Siri.
We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date.”
As with all of Apple’s data centers around the world, the new centres will be powered entirely by clean, renewable energy …
The company says that the facilities will have the lowest environmental impact yet for an Apple data centre.
“We believe that innovation is about leaving the world better than we found it, and that the time for tackling climate change is now,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We’re excited to spur green industry growth in Ireland and Denmark and develop energy systems that take advantage of their strong wind resources. Our commitment to environmental responsibility is good for the planet, good for our business and good for the European economy.”
The Irish center will be in County Galway, while the Danish one will be located in central Jutland.
One of Apple’s motives for building the new centers is likely to be the increasing unease in Europe about data stored in the USA since the NSA revelations. Apple is one of a number of companies to have lobbied against the NSA surveillance of electronic communication, but so far there is little confidence in European IT circles that such lobbying will prove effective.
The full press release can be read below.
Apple to Invest €1.7 Billion in New European Data Centres
State-of-the-art facilities in Ireland and Denmark will run on 100 percent renewable energy
CORK, Ireland—February 23, 2015—Apple® today announced a €1.7 billion plan to build and operate two data centres in Europe, each powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The facilities, located in County Galway, Ireland, and Denmark’s central Jutland, will power Apple’s online services including the iTunes Store®, App Store℠, iMessage®, Maps and Siri® for customers across Europe.
“We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date. We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet.”
Apple supports nearly 672,000 European jobs, including 530,000 jobs directly related to the development of iOS apps. Since the App Store’s debut in 2008, developers across Europe have earned more than €6.6 billion through the worldwide sale of apps.
Apple now directly employs 18,300 people across 19 European countries and has added over 2,000 jobs in the last 12 months alone. Last year, Apple spent more than €7.8 billion with European companies and suppliers helping build Apple products and support operations around the world.
Like all Apple data centres, the new facilities will run entirely on clean, renewable energy sources from day one. Apple will also work with local partners to develop additional renewable energy projects from wind or other sources to provide power in the future. These facilities will have the lowest environmental impact yet for an Apple data centre.
“We believe that innovation is about leaving the world better than we found it, and that the time for tackling climate change is now,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We’re excited to spur green industry growth in Ireland and Denmark and develop energy systems that take advantage of their strong wind resources. Our commitment to environmental responsibility is good for the planet, good for our business and good for the European economy.”
The two data centres, each measuring 166,000 square metres, are expected to begin operations in 2017 and include designs with additional benefits for their communities. For the project in Athenry, Ireland, Apple will recover land previously used for growing and harvesting non-native trees and restore native trees to Derrydonnell Forest. The project will also provide an outdoor education space for local schools, as well as a walking trail for the community.
In Viborg, Denmark, Apple will eliminate the need for additional generators by locating the data centre adjacent to one of Denmark’s largest electrical substations. The facility is also designed to capture excess heat from equipment inside the facility and conduct it into the district heating system to help warm homes in the neighboring community.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
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they gotta do something with all that cash.
That’s a good point as they don’t need to pay this from their small pile of, what, $30B, that’s in the US, but rather pay it from their abroad stashed cash.
Yep, they should have a fair cash stash in Ireland: http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/30/apple-ireland-tax/
That so-called stashed cash is earned overseas on products which are built overseas.
And EUR is dirty cheap right now.
Who knows, maybe we even get Apple Store in Ireland one day…
… And maybe in Denmark too! :D
After 11 years of rumours you guys deserve more than 1 store!
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/?s=Denmark
Good news.
Respect!
So cool, now my house will be heated when downloading updates from the App Store ;)
– Living in Viborg, Denmark :)
Helping the environment….
Unlike Google…
Easy horsey. If you’re going to attack companies for not being green there are many more obvious targets than big G.