Apple Begins Work on First Phase of New Data Center in Prineville, Oregon

Apple has begun work on the first $68 million phase of its new Prineville, Oregon data center, reports OregonLive.com.

The company is clearing and flattening land for one of the two 338,000 sq ft buildings that will be built on the site.

The price tag covers the cost of one building and two "data halls" inside. Plans filed with the city and Crook County last summer call for adding a second building and, eventually, 14 more data halls.

There's additional space on the property for more buildings, identified in planning documents in two sections marked "Future Development Area." The total cost of the facility will likely run in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars once it's outfitted with powerful servers to run Apple's iCloud service.

Apple confirmed that it had purchased 160 acres in Prineville, Oregon in February. The company made a deal with local governments to get a 15-year property tax exemption for the new data center.

Read More [via MacRumors]