Apple's long-delayed campus construction project in North Carolina is about to resume. The state government has given the company several years to meet its recruitment and investment commitments. After many delays and back-and-forths, the state of North Carolina decided to extend the four-year compliance period for Apple's plans to build a campus in Research Triangle Park. In fact, it was originally scheduled to expire in 2024, but now it is reset with 2027 as the "first year".
The state Economic Investment Committee approved the extension on Tuesday at Apple's request. According to The Herald, in the past, the state could only extend relevant incentives for a maximum of 24 months until the law was revised in June this year.
After the revision, transformative companies that have more than 1,000 employees in the state and have not yet received incentive payments can "reset" the incentive policy requirements. Although the bill does not name Apple, its content is almost entirely designed to address Apple's request for an extension.
According to the new arrangement, Apple needs to recruit 126 employees for its Research Triangle Park project by the end of 2027 before it can continue to enjoy incentives and subsidies. The number of employees needs to reach 1,719 within five years and 2,700 within ten years.
Apple said that in the future, employees in the Research Triangle Park will focus on "machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering and related fields."
Apple's plans to build a campus in the state have experienced several major delays. In 2018, Apple purchased the "Research Triangle Park" land in Raleigh with the original intention of building an engineering technology hub and a corporate operations center. In 2021, North Carolina introduced strict recruitment and investment goals, promising that Apple could receive more than $800 million in tax cuts if it meets the standards for 39 years, but it will need to invest $1 billion.
However, the project has not yet broken ground in 2022, and Apple instead invested nearly $20 million in renovations in the former temporary office building. Although this move does not mean that Apple has completely given up building the park, it shows that the construction progress and scheduled timetable have changed.
In 2023, there were reports that Apple planned to build a huge campus on the 281-acre campus, including office buildings, parking buildings, streets and central utility plants.
In May 2024, outside sources said that relevant local energy companies were on standby, but Apple did not initiate communication and construction was originally scheduled to start in 2026.
In June 2024, Apple officially applied to postpone the park construction plan for a maximum period of four years. The state government did not grant this extension request until November 2025.