North Carolina Governor Perdue Welcomes Apple to North Carolina

6/3/2009 -- Raleigh -- North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue today announced that Apple has selected North Carolina as the location for a new data center. The company is expected to invest more than $1 billion in the project over nine years.

“North Carolina continues to be a prime location for growing and expanding global technology companies,” said Perdue. “We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state.”

Article continues below...

The announcement comes after Gov. Perdue this morning signed Senate Bill 575, which modifies the method by which capital-intensive businesses calculate corporate income tax liability in North Carolina.

The facility is expected to employ at least 50 full-time employees. The legislation requires that the average wage exceed the wage standard of the county in which it’s located. A data center such as this will typically contract locally for services such as server maintenance and repair, building and HVAC maintenance, landscaping and security – expenditures that could range from $5 million to $6 million annually in the region and create up to 250 jobs. The North Carolina Department of Commerce projects that a data center investment of $1 billion would create more than 3,000 jobs in the regional economy, including hundreds of jobs related to construction and others created as a result of economic growth.

“We are very pleased the General Assembly has recognized the role capital-intensive industries play in the state’s economy and their relationship to small businesses in our communities. Technology-driven projects like this may bring fewer overall jobs than traditional industry, but they have a tremendous economic impact through locally purchased goods and services,” Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco said.

As part of the legislation, a capital-intensive industry must meet investment and wage standards and provide its employees with health insurance in order to utilize the modified formula for calculating the state corporate income tax. It also must locate in one of the state’s more economically distressed Tier 1 or Tier 2 areas.

“During these tough economic times, it’s important to make the investments that create jobs in areas that need them the most,” said Perdue.

Source: North Carolina Governor