Vice:
Apple is the world’s most valuable company, and it’s used to getting its way. Yet here in rural Ireland, one man has managed to block its ambitions. Data centers aren’t sexy like iPhones, but as smartphone sales slow, they are now critical to Apple’s future, powering services like iTunes, the App Store, iMessage, and iPhoto.
The Apple representatives, who included the head of data center development, couldn’t have known that the man sitting in front of them would be one of the main reasons why, almost two years later, they have yet to break ground on their plan to build eight vast data halls outside Athenry. A month after the meeting, the local authority approved the project, but it remains tied up in legal challenges in the Irish High Court.
Interesting story of one man’s fight against Apple.
“[The MP’s] total belief in the power of Apple to transform Athenry was shared by many of the people I spoke to here, but no one could tell me just how the data center project would change anything.”
A sprinkle of Apple fairy dust will fix our tiny economy! Just think of all the food-trucks that’ll be needed to feed those 150 data center workers! Golly!
Before I read this I thought Allan Daly was a codger, but he’s a ~45 yr old outlander fighting a personal, epic battle. It doesn’t sound like he’ll really help Athenry in any outcome, but he’s hell bent on disrupting Apple’s plans to prove a point. His battle is with the Irish government, not Apple.
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From the information provided in the article, it didn’t sound as though Apple would help Athenry very much, either. One windmill at a time.
This is a tough one. I think any ‘positive’ solution involves Apple working with Daly to find a path forward and will likely involve some form of utility legislation that addresses the power grid issues.
I trust Apple is responsible enough to do the right thing for Athenry, but what that is, is unclear. Its more than just creating jobs for jobs sake. Are the residents qualified to work for Apple? Maybe. But maybe Apple and Athenry instead create a coop to build a wind farm 200km away in the sea, where each resident gets x shares that provide residual income from selling that power to the grid. Apple gets all the power it needs to run the data center. Ireland gets clean renewable energy. Win, win, win.
I think forcing Apple to be a civil institution is not in anyone’s best interest, though. Apple’s proven it will go the distance to create a sustainable, safe, ecologically sound data centers in other locales, so I doubt they’d shirk any responsibility in Athenry.
Apple generally likes to point out where it tries to give back part of whatever it’s getting from a project of this scope.
But from what I’ve seen here, it seems as though Apple has no plans to help build up the electrical grid it’ll be using. The article suggests that should’ve been something the town—and by extension the IDA—should have negotiated more strongly for. If they negotiated at all.
I don’t see anything that suggests Apple feels very inclined to do any of the things you’ve suggested. Perhaps they haven’t announced such intentions, or perhaps it’s just because “Ireland.”
As I understand them, most such data centers don’t constitute a very large employment presence. So whatever benefit the town is expecting has to come from 150 new residents who may or may not end up living in Athenry, contributing to its tax base, and patronizing its local businesses.