NC town raises offer for Apple data center site

RALEIGH — A North Carolina community battered by manufacturing layoffs raised the offer for Apple Inc. to open its East Coast data center just 30 miles down the road from a similar Google Inc. server farm that opened last year.

Catawba County and the town of Maiden agreed Monday to a package of local incentives aimed at luring Apple to the county with a 15 percent unemployment rate. The state last month changed its tax calculations to land Apple’s $1 billion data center, giving the company a tax break estimated at $46 million in the next decade.

The local governments have promised another $21 million over 10 years.

A spokeswoman for the technology giant declined to confirm the company’s decision.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)