Apple to Convert Scuttled Arizona Sapphire Plant into Command Center

Last March, Apple (AAPL) chief Tim Cook told shareholders at the vendor’s annual meeting the vendor’s new 1.3 million-square-foot sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona, would produce thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs and key an ecosystem that could yield “tens of thousands” of new positions.

Ah, er, check that.

The facility, first intended to make scratch-resistant sapphire crystal coverings for future iPhone and iPod displays, camera lenses and fingerprint readers—and perhaps some other stuff—never came about, falling victim to GT Advanced Technologies’ bankruptcy and contract squabbles with Apple.

So Apple’s decided to turn the massive plant into a data center, investing some $2 billion over 10 years to convert the building into what the vendor is calling a “command center for our global networks,” according to a statement supplied to Bloomberg.

“This multi-billion dollar project is one of the largest investments we’ve ever made, and when completed it will add over 600 engineering and construction jobs to the more than one million jobs Apple has already created in the U.S.,” Apple said. “Like all Apple data centers, it will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, much of which will come from a new local solar farm.”

Apple plans to launch construction on the new data center late in 2016. GT’s settlement with Apple enables it to use the facility through the end of 2015 and the company is housing advanced furnaces on site, delaying the plant’s use.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey told Bloomberg the new Apple data center will employ about 150 full-time staffers. The project is expected to generate an additional 500 construction and trade jobs, he said.

“I got the impression from Apple that they wanted to do the right thing and we’re excited that they are doing it here in Arizona,” Ducey said.

Apple said it will underwrite and build solar projects for 70 megawatts of new solar power generation sufficient to power more than 14,500 homes in Arizona.