Sue Data Centers

Data Center Registry

Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud)

Maiden, Catawba County, North Carolina · All 5 Apple sites

OperatingNo reception on recordAI likelyRecord updated July 24, 2026

Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) is an operating data center in Maiden, North Carolina (Catawba County), operated by Apple. The public record puts it at announced 2009, 183 acres.

Every line on this page traces to a public source listed at the bottom. Where a figure was looked for and not found, the row says so. A blank is never a zero.

Facility record

Operating

Operator
Apple
Facility type
Data center, AI use likely
Location
Maiden, Catawba County, NC
Coordinates
35.5886, -81.2567 (approximate)
Power capacity
Not established from a public source
Land
183 acres
Investment
Not established from a public source
Announced
2009
Utility
Duke Energy
Power source
Mixed
On site generation
10 MW
Cooling
Not established from a public source
Water use
Not established from a public source
Jobs
Not established from a public source
Public subsidy
Not established from a public source
Community reception
No reception on record
Source confidence
Confirmed by multiple independent sources or official documentation

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

  1. 2010
    Operating
    Operational since 2010 (Apple's first company-owned data center); NC named for continued expansion in Apple's Feb 2025 $500B newsroom release. Source: Apple Newsroom

Opposition and litigation at this site

Nothing on record as of July 24, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) in Maiden, Catawba County, North Carolina appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.

If you live near this site and something is happening that this page does not show, that is worth telling us. Send us the document and it goes in the record with the source attached. For sites where opposition is already established, see every contested site we track.

Power and water

Apple built roughly 50MW of dedicated clean generation to serve this campus, 40MW across two 20MW solar farms plus a ~10MW Bloom Energy fuel cell array running on landfill biogas, the largest non-utility fuel cell installation in the US at the time.

Notes on the record

Apple's flagship U.S. iCloud data center on Startown Rd near Maiden, Catawba County, Apple's first company-owned data center, operational since 2010, with a large adjacent solar array. Apple's Feb 2025 newsroom names North Carolina among the states where it will 'continue expanding data center capacity' as part of its Apple Intelligence buildout. No site-specific IT-load MW is disclosed. Coordinates are an approximate geocode of the disclosed Startown Rd address (~183 ac per public reporting); a county-parcel pass could upgrade precision to exact.

What the record does not establish, and the document that would

In every fight on our tracker the decisive fact came out of a public records request. These are the requests for this site.

  • Power capacity in megawatts
  • Cooling method and water use
  • Tax abatements or other public subsidy
  • Permanent jobs promised
  • How the community has received it
Which document closes each gap
Power capacity in megawatts
The utility's large load service agreement, the interconnection request in the grid operator's queue, or the electrical site plan in the permit file.
Cooling method and water use
The water service agreement, any groundwater appropriation permit, and the mechanical narrative in the site plan.
Tax abatements or other public subsidy
The abatement, PILOT, or development agreement approved by the county, city, or development authority, and the state's data center sales tax exemption certificate if one was issued.
Permanent jobs promised
The economic development application or incentive agreement, which usually states a job commitment and a clawback.
How the community has received it
Planning commission and governing body minutes, public comment records, and any petition or lawsuit filed in the county.

Have one of these documents? Send it to us and we will add it to the record with attribution.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) in Maiden?

Nothing on record as of July 24, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) in Maiden, Catawba County, North Carolina appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud)?

No lawsuit over Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) appears in the record we track as of July 24, 2026. Residents most often reach a lawyer over water supply, well drawdown, noise from cooling plant, property value, or a rezoning approved without the notice the ordinance required. If any of that is happening near this site, it is worth a review whether or not a case has been filed yet.

How much water does Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) use?

No water withdrawal figure for Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud) is on record here. Water use is rarely published voluntarily; it usually surfaces through a utility service agreement or a state withdrawal permit, both of which are public records. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud), and how big is it?

Apple is the operator on record. We hold 5 sites for that company across the registry. No capacity figure is on record for this site. The site is recorded at 183 acres.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Apple Maiden Data Center (iCloud)," updated July 24, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/apple-maiden-nc.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.32.0 (September 7, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/apple-maiden-nc, retrieved September 14, 2026.

Corrections with a public source are welcome at the Compute Atlas record or through our contact page. The whole registry is available as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.

Sources for this record

As compiled and cited by Compute Atlas, with our own reporting appended. Archived links are used where the original has moved.

  1. 1.Apple will spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, names NC among states for continued data-center capacity expansion (Apple Intelligence) · Apple Newsroom · retrieved July 19, 2026
  2. 2.North Carolina data center is part of Apple's $500 billion expansion plan across the US · Catawba County Economic Development Corp · retrieved July 19, 2026
  3. 3.Apple's 20-megawatt solar farm near NC data center gets NCUC approval (9to5Mac) · retrieved July 24, 2026
  4. 4.Solar and fuel cell farms for Apple's NC data center now completely operational (iMore) · retrieved July 24, 2026

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