04/26/2021
More high tech jobs coming to our area of NC. Already have a reformed church here, get a job and make the move.
BUSINESS
Apple picks Triangle for $1 billion campus, thousands of high-paying new jobs
Tags: Apple, jobs, WRAL TechWire
Posted April 26, 2021 7:36 a.m. EDT
Updated April 26, 2021 1:37 p.m. EDT
By Rick Smith, WRAL TechWire editor
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — Apple on Monday announced a new $1 billion-plus campus and engineering hub that will create thousands of high-paying jobs in the Triangle over the next five years.
What to know:
The 1-million-sq.-ft. building will bring more than 3,000 additional jobs to RTP.
Jobs will be offered in machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering and other cutting-edge industries and will eventually pay a minimum average salary of $187,000.
Apple says it will invest more than $1 billion in the state.
In addition to the new campus, the company will invest $100 million to support schools and community initiatives in the Triangle and will put more than $110 million toward infrastructure in 80 North Carolina counties.
Political leaders and local economists say the move will easily attract people and companies from across the U.S. and from other countries to the state and the Triangle.
Apple campus bringing 3,000 jobs to NC
According to WRAL News reporter Travis Fain, the campus will be built in RTP on land purchased in late 2018 by a company identified as Acute Investments LLC. The site is located off the Triangle Expressway between Louis Stephens Drive and Davis Drive. Listed in the deal is Bruce Thompson, a registered lobbyist for Apple.
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Future Apple site
The jobs are lucrative, with minimum salaries starting at $133,520 and rising to $168,301 by year three of the deal. Over time, the average wage would be $187,001, just about triple the current average annual wage in Wake County of $63,966.
Jobs will be created over a decade from about 2023 to 2032.
Positions will be primarily in artificial intelligence, machine learning and software engineering, according to information provided by the Department of Commerce and the EIC.
"Once this campus is up and running, it's expected to generate more than $1.5 billion a year an economic impact to our state," Gov. Roy Cooper said.
Apple expects to invest some $1 billion in the new campus. The company also agreed to retain some 1,100 existing jobs across North Carolina.
Do you welcome Apple's major expansion to the Triangle or do you have concerns about the impact?
North Carolina State University economist Dr. Mike Walden said Apple's decision will attract other employers to the state and ultimately double the jobs coming to the Triangle.
"You can usually double [Apple's job announcement of 3,000] when you take into account all the other firms that will come here because Apple comes," Walden said. "We will celebrate this for years to come. It tells the world that North Carolina – specifically the Triangle – is the place for economic development in the post-pandemic world."
The addition of Apple further strengthens the Triangle as one of the country’s leading high-tech and life science hubs. The Raleigh-Durham metro is already home to IBM’s largest campus, Raleigh-based Red Hat, which is part of IBM, and other high-profile firms such as Lenovo (the world’s top PC seller and a global leader in supercomputers), Cree, Oracle, Cisco and NetApp. Google plans a new engineering hub in Durham, and Microsoft is adding hundreds of jobs in the Triangle.
