Apple to build data center on Oregon, signs $5.6 million deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - A 160-acre parcel of land has been signed over to Apple and will be used to build a data center, an Oregon TV station said, confirming a long-standing rumor.

According to CNET, the piece of land in Prineville cost the company $5.6 million and the deal, formerly known as "Project Maverick," has been quietly in the works for months. An Apple representative confirmed to the station that the company purchased the land for a data center but declined to comment further.

Web companies have flocked to Oregon because of the state's sizable property tax breaks and low power costs. Facebook, Google, and Amazon also have data farms in the same area.

This is Apple's latest data center expansion and comes at a time when the company is placing an increased reliance in servers as part of its products. Last week, Apple unveiled Mountain Lion, the next version of computer OS, due this summer. The software has deeper integration with iCloud, the cloud storage and sync service it introduced in October, letting users store and access desktop files in the cloud. Well ahead of that, Apple was seen signing leases to expand its data center capacity and has reportedly invested $1 billion in its North Carolina facility.