#Apple is bringing a #datacenter and jobs to Iowa as part of its pledge to be a morally responsible company. But critics say the deal is just another example of a powerful corporation exploiting investment-hungry state governments for its own ends.
“I think we have a moral responsibility to help grow the economy, to help grow jobs, to contribute to this country.” That’s not a politician talking. It’s Apple CEO Tim Cook, stumping across the American Heartland in the waning weeks of summer. Cook (probably) has no intention of running for political office, but he’s aware that corporate executives are increasingly expected to do good by people who aren’t their own shareholders. The United States is careening through the Trump years with a partially-staffed government and a lack of coherent administrative vision. Meanwhile, tech giants are steadily amassing greater power, even as individual users and politicians become more skeptical that their growing influence is in the public interest. High-profile leaders like Cook have no choice but to campaign for their companies if they want to maintain the goodwill Silicon Valley has enjoyed since Apple first supplanted Microsoft as the sector’s more empathetic standard-bearer.
So it makes sense that one stop on Cook’s national tour was Des Moines, Iowa, where he announced that Apple was opening a new data center in the nearby suburb of Waukee.The $1.3 billion facility will help ensure online users across North America can continue flaking on appointments via iMessage and answering mundane trivia via Siri. At 400,000 square feet, it’s a massive, expensive reminder that all digital ephemera must ultimately wind its way back to the rows and rows of hulking back servers that keep the internet humming.
Cook, alongside Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, cast the new project as a victory for both Apple and the state. For Apple, the W is clear: The company received more than $200 million in tax breaks for a facility that will ultimately require only 50 full-time employees. For Iowans, the math is murkier. By one set of calculations, Iowa is offering more than $4 million in tax breaks per job, an incentive so generous that one economist I talked to called it “reckless.” By another formula, the state will generate tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue thanks to Apple’s presence, while further cementing its reputation as a Midwestern tech hub. No matter how Iowans spin the deal, the reality is that this sparsely populated state has become vital to the physical infrastructure of the internet. Its residents are experiencing both the benefits and drawbacks of that distinction.
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