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As the biggest company in the world, Apple is known for its tech products. But how much land Apple owns is an underrated aspect of their core business too.
If you didn't spend the time to learn, you would have no idea about the scale Apple truly operates at. The land they acquire gets put to use quickly and it creates thousands of jobs in smaller economies too.
Apple’s large-scale acquisition of land has been a noteworthy topic in the past few years because of how fast it has grown. Apple now owns over 8,000 acres of land across different states and countries. This land is used for server farms, recyclable products, and renewable energy.
Apple uses this land for different purposes such as corporate offices, data centers, warehouses, and more. They use this land as an opportunity to create jobs and the states they buy the land in provide tax benefits and breaks to entice Apple to go there This guide talks more about all of the land Apple owns.
In-depth research and industry knowledge have allowed us to collect the data used in this guide to provide an accurate analysis of Apple’s land and property ownership. Keep reading to learn more and become an expert on the topic too.
Table of Contents
How Much Land Does Apple Own?
Apple is the world’s largest company by market value and has a market capitalization of over 1 trillion US dollars. But beyond its valuation and tech presence, they have been adding land to its portfolio for many years now.
And by adding land, we do not mean the Apple Park development that holds 12,000 employees covers over 175 acres. In all regions of the United States and internationally, Apple has been accumulating land in different areas to boost its presence across the globe among other critical reasons.
The key thing to note about Apple is the rate at which they continue to acquire land. It seems like in three or four years the total acreage of land they own triples during that short span to signify their growth efforts.
It is estimated that by now in 2022, Apple has eclipsed a total of 8,000 acres of land ownership across the United States along with international land investments in countries like China.
Why Does Apple Buy Land?
Apple buys land as a means of real estate investment among other critical reasons for its long-term success. It also helps to expand their business by acquiring space to operate for their future.
Based on our discovery, we have learned of three primary reasons why Apple makes it a fundamental priority to keep buying land in different regions of the country and the world. These reasons are listed below.
Renewable Energy
Apple has bought a huge amount of land in multiple states intending to use it for renewable energy projects. This is a clear indication that Apple is planning for the future, and wants to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly business model.
They have been criticized in the past for not being environmentally friendly, so this move is a clear attempt to win back public support. The new land will be used to create solar and wind farms, which will provide energy for Apple's offices and data centers.
Apple also knows by focusing on renewable energy there are many tax breaks and incentives offered by the government if they can follow the guidelines. This helps both the environment and their net income moving forward.
Tax Breaks
Apple has been in a major growth mode and it has been taking advantage of various tax breaks and incentives from different countries to grow rapidly. It seems that the company is looking for more places where it can invest its capital to grow even faster.
This is one of the major reasons why they buy so much land in various areas across the United States. This allows them to grow with less costs which makes it easier for Apple to be competitive in future business plans.
They also use the land to build R&D centers. Anywhere in the country where they buy land and build a piece of property that creates jobs results in lower taxes with credits and big breaks given by the local government to stimulate the local economy.
Server Farms
Apple has been buying up large amounts of land to build these server farms. They are also doing so to keep the servers cool and avoid power outages that could disrupt service.
These server farms can help run web services like iMessage, Apple Music, App Store, and iCloud services. These centers are built based on tax incentives offered by states and the focus is to use clean energy to run them.
Apple has already bought lots of land in 4 or 5 different states now for server farms. These farms create new jobs in areas that may not be full of opportunities and they invigorate the economy in each region they are built.
Where Does Apple Own Land?
Apple has been getting creative with land investments lately. The company has been tight-lipped about its plan but they are buying up land in every region of the United States, as well as in other countries around the world like China for key green initiatives and data expansion.
Below we have listed all of the places Apple has publicly admitted to owning land and what the land is being used for in each area.
China
Apple has preserved over 1,000,000 acres of forests in China. While technically this is not land ownership, it is part of their initiative to push towards 100% of renewable energy and recyclable materials across the world.
Maine & North Carolina
Similar to China, Apple has preserved over 36,000 acres of forests and trees that will not be destroyed to keep the earth cleaner through renewable energy. This effort was made through the Conservation Fund to help inspire other corporations to follow in their footsteps.
California
California serves as the leading area where Apple operates at Apple Park, the headquarters, sitting on over 350 acres of land. They also have plenty of data centers and server farms in the northern areas of California away from the major cities.
Iowa
Iowa is critical to the success of Apple because of the 2,000 acres of land they bought here to increase their data center presence. By doing so, they could expand online efforts and grow things like Cloud services faster.
Iowa provides Apple with over $200 million in tax benefits and related subsidiaries to continue operating in Des Moines because of the economic growth it provides through job creation. This land and these data centers are important to the success of Apple products too.
Nevada
Apple also opened a data center in Reno that created 35 jobs in exchange for many millions in tax benefits. This investment was worth over $1 billion for Apple in 2012 and served as one of the first major investments in server farms by the corporation.
What Is Apple’s Land Worth?
Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, but its land holdings are often overlooked when considering their value. They paid over $150 million just for the property to build Apple Park in California.
This does not include investments in North Carolina, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, and China to name a few. Apple owns roughly 8,000 acres of land now and they only continue to grow that number each year as they only owned 584 acres in 2011.
It is hard to put an exact figure on what all this land is worth but based on reports, you can estimate close to $2 billion total has been invested in the land across all of these states and regions around the world.
About THE AUTHOR
Brittany Melling
Brittany has been in the land business since 2020 when the world was starting to shut down. Since then, we’ve sold to dozens of people from ATV weekend warriors to camping enthusiasts to retired truck drivers. Our inventory spans mostly in the western United States. We’ve been trained by experience, land acquisition courses, and hundreds of hours meeting with county assessors and clerks, zoning officials, realtors, and land investors. We’ve answered hundreds of questions from people regarding the buying and use of land.
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