Apple breaks ground for new Oregon data center

After spending the last few months putting together the paperwork and plans for its upcoming Oregon-based data center, Apple has finally broken ground on the project. The company will be transforming 160 acres of area near Prineville, Ore., into two big state-of-the-art data centers, and construction has started just recently. The initial cost of development was only $68 million, though as construction and upkeep go on, the expected cost of the structure is expected to run up to nearly a billion dollars.

Not that Apple can't afford it -- the data center will help run associated services like iCloud, iTunes and all of the other various moneymakers the company from Cupertino has going. And of course, Apple picked up plenty of tax bonuses for building in Oregon: The local economy is booming, especially since Facebook has built facilities very close by. Presumably, the center should finally be up and running at some point next year.