The 500,000-sq.-ft. facility is nearly five times the size of Apple’s current server farm
Bill Wagenseller, an aptly named real estate agent based in Charlotte, N.C., has posted what is believed to be the first video flyover of Apple’s (AAPL) billion-dollar server farm, now under construction 40 miles away in Maiden, N.C.
According to Data Center Knowledge, which spotted the 36-second video, the massive, 500,000-sq.-ft. facility will be nearly five times the size of Apple’s giant data center in Newark, Calif.
Although Apple hasn’t commented on its purpose, the new facility is expected to be a key component of the company’s evolving cloud computing strategy, whereby data once stored on local computers will reside instead on giant server farms like this one.
Apple chose Maiden and Catawba County, one of North Carolina’s poorest regions, after the state legislature passed a bill giving the company tax breaks that could total more than $66 million over the next 10 years. The county suffers from 15% unemployment, and the new facility could create some 300 temporary construction jobs and up to 100 full-time operation jobs.
See the video below the fold.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
