Apple To Turn Failed Factory Into Green Data Centre

Apple will be investing $2 billion (£1.3bn) to turn a failed factory into its biggest data centre ever.

As Bloomberg reports, Apple will convert an Arizona factory into a data centre after the facility failed to produce sapphire screens for iPhones.

Last year Apple’s partner GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy after it failed to establish a reliable production line of sapphire glass for the tech giant.

The building in Mesa, near Phoenix (Black Mesa, anyone?) that occupied more than 1.3 million square feet (120.000 square meters) was a former solar-panel factory and was Apple’s bid to try and bring back manufacturing to the USA.

Even though the factory failed, Apple still promises jobs for the local community:

“We’re proud to continue investing in the U.S. with a new data center in Arizona, which will serve as a command center for our global networks,” Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, wrote in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

“This multibillion-dollar project is one of the largest investments we’ve ever made.”

According to the written statement, the facility will be powered by 100 per cent natural energy, as Apple plans to invest and build solar panels which will produce enough energy to power more than 14,500 Arizona homes.

However, Apple won’t have access to the facility for the rest of 2015. According to the settlement deal agreed between Apple and GT Advanced, the latter can continue using the Mesa facility until December 2015.