Massive Expansion Underway at Oregon, Nevada, and International Apple Data Centers

With a record breaking, blockbuster debut weekend for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Apple is no doubt on its way to reversing the tides of its recently diminishing market share. Though Apple’s smartphone and tablet sales account for nearly two-thirds of its annual revenue, the iPhone has seen a slight drop in recent years due in part to increased competition in the mobile marketplace.

Nevertheless, the numbers speak for themselves — Apple is on its way back to the top of the heap. And, on that note, they’ve been preparing their existing data center operations around the globe to accommodate the heightened demand.

Reno, Nevada data center

Apple is currently developing a few new clusters of buildings at its iCloud data center near Reno, Nevada, located about four hours east of their Silicon Valley headquarters.

Even despite the otherwise alarming responses from industry insiders familiar with Apple’s large-scale projects, the company’s iCloud expansion is just getting started. In March of 2015, it was reported that Apple had doubled the iCloud data capacity at its 345 acre, solar and geothermal powered facility in Reno.

When development began in 2013, Apple was touting that their complex in Reno would eventually become “one of the world’s greatest data centers in operation,” drawing the majority of its power from renewable energy resources.

Six months after its inception, Apple is already at work on a 3rd and 4th cluster of buildings on that same property.

The developments at their facility in Reno have been moving along so quickly, reports indicate that NV Energy has been commissioned to install new power lines in the area specifically to fuel Apple’s booming operation.

Prineville, Oregon data center

Apple is also in the process of expanding its holdings in Prineville, Oregon, where an additional parcel has recently been added on to their existing data center site. Apple began working on that project about four years ago. The Bend Bulletin reported that Apple closed on a multi-million dollar deal for the roughly 200 additional acres of land adjacent to its existing 150 acre site.

Apple’s Prineville, Oregon data center is also powered in part by small hydroelectric developments located nearby, which Apple began acquiring and building upon just this last year.

Data center expansion around the globe

In addition to its domestic expansion, Apple announced a multi-billion euro data center project earlier this year that plans to add several new, state-of-the-art facilities in Galway, Ireland and Viborg, Denmark, with both locations powered exclusively by renewable energy sources. Those developments are expected to begin operating by mid-2017.

Also worth noting is that Apple announced plans in February to convert the site of its defunct partnership with GT Advanced Technologies into a highly advanced “global command” data center, which is expected to cost the Cupertino tech giant upwards of $2 billion.