Apple is keeping its promise to the people of Arizona and it will cost the company a cool $2 billion. After Apple’s sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technologies filed for bankruptcy last year, Apple vowed it would work to replace the jobs that were lost in the state of Arizona where GT’s main sapphire plant was located. Now a new report from The Wall Street Journal reveals exactly how Apple plans to keep this promise.
BACKGROUND: The saga of Apple and its bankrupt sapphire supplier gets weirder by the day
According to the Journal, Apple will spend $2 billion to build a massive data center in Arizona in the exact same location where GT’s sapphire plant now resides. Apple says it will start building the data center in 2016 because GT needs time to clean its equipment out of the area.
As for jobs the plant will deliver, the Journal writes that “the company plans to employ 150 full-time Apple staff at the Mesa, Arizona, facility” and will have the side benefit of creating “up to 500 construction jobs as well.” This still won’t make up for all the jobs that were lost as a result of the GT bankruptcy, however, since the company said that it plans to lay off more than 700 employees.
