Apple to Add Another Data Center to North Carolina Complex

Apple has filed plans to add yet another data center to its massive complex in Maiden, North Carolina. According to The Hickory Record—a local newspaper—Apple will add a second "tactical data center" to the facility with a new 14,246 square foot building that is 25 feet tall.

Apple's Original Data Center in Maiden, North Carolina

Apple's Original Data Center in Maiden, North Carolina

The building will made of precast concrete walls built on steel columns. It will have an office, a "business area," a breakroom, a storage area, and a single unisex bathroom. The main server area will be cooled with 11 air conditioning units, with two more cooling the other areas in the building.

My favorite detail is that security features will include a "man-trap door," sort of like an airlock, where one door must close before the second door can open.

The original facility in Maiden was a 500,000 square foot building with enormous capacity. Since then, Apple has added a solar system array and a fuel cell to generate power. More recently, Apple added a 21,300 square foot data center, also dubbed a "tactical data center."

That makes the new facility seem rather small in comparison, and Scott Millar, president of Catawba County Economic Development Corporation, told The Hickory Record that companies who already have large data facilities in the area appear to be expanding through scaled-to-purpose, smaller installations, rather than additional large ones.

That said, Apple has additional large data centers in other parts of the U.S., including Prineville, Oregon, which has also been expanding. Apple is also developing a data center in Hong Kong.