Apple Mesa data center, Mesa, Arizona

Apple's Mesa data center in Mesa, Arizona, in Maricopa County, is the company's global data command center, housed in the 1.3-million-square-foot former GT Advanced Technologies plant that was meant to make sapphire glass for Apple before GT went bankrupt in 2014. Apple announced in February 2015 that it would invest $2 billion to turn the building, which it had bought in 2013, into a command center for its global networks.

The state said the site would employ 150 full-time Apple workers and bring 300 to 500 construction and trade jobs, and Apple pledged to power it entirely with renewable energy. The plant was operating as a data center by 2017, and a handful of staff at a time work 10-hour shifts monitoring the company's operations, according to a 2018 Arizona Republic tour reported by 9to5Mac. Apple said it partners with the Salt River Project for clean energy and planned solar panels on the parking lot.

Mesa's Elliot Road Technology Corridor has since filled with data centers, from Google, EdgeCore, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, NTT and EdgeConnex among others. Water has been the argument: when the city council backed a development agreement for a large data center there in 2021, Vice Mayor Jenn Duff objected, "Data centers are not a responsible use of our water and it's time to stop and allow other forms of manufacturing and technology to infill in this area."

Apple has said it plans to keep expanding data center capacity in Arizona as part of its $500 billion U.S. investment commitment. In August 2026, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes asked the Legislature and Gov. Katie Hobbs to pause approvals of new data centers, citing a federal plan to cut Colorado River water and rising energy costs. Any new Mesa data center agreement would go to the Mesa City Council, as the 2021 vote did; a statewide pause would need the Legislature and the governor.