Apple Already Pursuing Minor Expansion at North Carolina Data Center

Back in March, the Hickory Daily Record noted that Apple had filed for building permits related to a "tactical data center" to be located at the site of the company's existing data center in Maiden, North Carolina. Our research at the time indicated that the facility was a relatively small building of roughly 20,000 square feet, but it was unclear exactly what it was to be used for.

The Hickory Daily Record now follows up with a new report sharing more details on Apple's plans as culled from additional building permits and planning documents filed in recent weeks.

According to Apple’s design plans on file with Catawba County, the new 21,030-square-foot data center, also referred to as a “tactical” data center, will store clusters of servers. Permits filed with the county list the cost of the new 11-room data center at $1,885,129. [..]

The building will have, what appears to be, tight security measures even though it will be located on a site that already has tight security. The building will be equipped with “man trap” security doors at either end that will force a person to be cleared to go through an additional second door to get inside the main building space. The building also will be surrounded with an 8-foot-high chain-link security fence, according to architectural plans.

maiden tactical data center
New construction at Apple's Maiden, North Carolina data center (Source: Jeremy Detter/Hickory Daily Record)

Apple's plans for the site ultimately include two 500,000 square-foot data center buildings, only one of which has been constructed. Today's report indicates that this new tactical data center, a separate project, will be adjacent to the existing data center without impinging upon space set aside for the second major building.

The architectural site plans show the small data center t-boned to the 500,000-square-foot existing data center. The plans still show the footprint for a larger data center that would run nearly parallel to the existing one and would t-bone the smaller one currently under construction.

Data Center Knowledge takes a closer look at Apple's plans, suggesting that Apple is deploying a modular facility in order to rapidly increase the server capacity at the site, something the company is already doing at its Prineville, Oregon site in advance of more permanent construction.

The building permits for the new Apple tactical MDC don’t name a particular provider. But Apple is currently deploying modular data centers from NxGen Modular at its new data center in Prineville, Oregon. NxGen has developed next-generation modular designs, with pre-fabricated components that can be assembled into a complete data center, complete with power, cooling and mechanical rooms.

Apple has yet to comment on its intentions for the new tactical data center facility in Maiden, but the project comes as Apple is pursuing major expansions of its server capabilities in North Carolina, Oregon, and Nevada to help support iCloud and other ventures.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google made waves yesterday by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
Apple Intelligence General Feature

Report: Apple's Next-Gen Version of Siri Is 'On Par' With ChatGPT

Monday May 19, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report. Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...

Top Rated Comments

JS82712 Avatar
168 months ago
Why would it be called an iPhone 5? It's the 6th iPHONE. Can we please stop spreading misinformation in every macrumors article?

Why can't it be called the iPhone 5?
There is no clear indication as to how apple's naming system works..
For instance, the iPhone "4" could've meant the 4th gen iphone OR a natural sequence of number following the 3GS.
So get off your high horse and move on. it's just a name, you know what he/she meant. :rolleyes:
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Raftysworld Avatar
168 months ago
Is this in preparation for the fifth iPhone (iPhone 5)?

Why would it be called an iPhone 5? It's the 6th iPHONE. Can we please stop spreading misinformation in every macrumors article?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
phillipduran Avatar
168 months ago
Finally a thread we can keep on topic. . .

Why would it be called an iPhone 5? It's the 6th iPHONE. Can we please stop spreading misinformation in every macrumors article?


Aaaaaaaaaannnnd it's gone.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Puevlo Avatar
168 months ago
Good thing they didn't solder the servers to the existing building to save room otherwise they wouldn't be able to upgrade. Funny that.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JS82712 Avatar
168 months ago
Pretty soon Apple is gonna declare war on America and try to take it over. Mark my words.

that sounds like something google would do. :rolleyes:
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
freediverdude Avatar
168 months ago
Good thing they didn't solder the servers to the existing building to save room otherwise they wouldn't be able to upgrade. Funny that.

Yes, the data center is even thinner! Isn't it gorgeous?? We made it unibody, and glued the servers to the walls to save space! That's how we were able to squeeze a whole data center, normally 500,000 square feet, into just 20,000!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)