The biggest investment in Apple's history: $2 billion to transform the GT sapphire factory

2020-11-09 14:17:28

According to foreign media reports, Apple will spend 2 billion US dollars to transform the sapphire factory that was previously abandoned due to the GTAT bankruptcy into a data center.

Apple said the sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona, "will become the global network command center." The 1.3 million square foot facility will be fully powered by renewable energy and is expected to create 150 full-time jobs and 300 to 500 construction and trade-related jobs, well below the 2000 jobs required for sapphire production. post.

Apple said, "This $2 billion investment is the biggest in our history." The factory was once used to produce solar panels and is a key component of Apple's move back to the US. Apple has promised that even if GTAT goes bankrupt, it will still bring employment opportunities to the local area. Apple will also invest in a solar project that will generate enough energy to supply 14,500 homes in Arizona.

Apple bought the factory before to make GTAT produce sapphire. To this end, Apple has invested a lot of money so that GTAT can produce a ton of sapphire on time. The plant will be an important part of Apple's supply chain, providing it with enough sapphire to make displays or other components. But it turns out that GTAT can't produce so many sapphires on time and quickly file for bankruptcy. Although the bankruptcy of GTAT has left all sorts of troubles, Apple seems to have found a way to reuse existing resources. As cloud services become more important, more data centers are certainly not a bad thing.