Apple Waukee data center, Waukee, Iowa

Apple's Waukee data center, on about 2,000 acres at Hickman Road and S Avenue in Waukee, in Dallas County, Iowa, has one building running, opened in October 2024 seven years after Apple announced the $1.3 billion project. The building serves North American users of iCloud, the App Store, Apple Music and iMessage, Apple told the Des Moines Register.

Apple first said the data center would be online in 2020, later won an extension from the Iowa Economic Development Authority to August 2027, and filed for planning permission in February 2022. Filed plans show one 315,773-square-foot data center building with administration, maintenance and network buildings; future data center buildings, possibly up to five, would each need further site plan approval. In July 2025 the Waukee City Council approved site plans for more parking, mechanical units, a storm shelter, a materials storage building and a logistics building to assemble components for future projects on site. Asked whether the improvements could pave the way for more data centers, City Administrator Brad Deets said that would not be an "inaccurate conclusion."

The deal has not always paid the city what it expected. Under the 2017 agreement Apple has a 20-year abatement on the buildings, with a minimum taxable value of $52.2 million per data center set in a 2023 agreement. When Dallas County calculated a year's valuation without applying that abatement, the correction left the city with $3.4 million less than planned, and the school district and county with less too. The city said the loss would not affect its operating budget but was making it re-evaluate the timing of infrastructure projects in its capital plan. Waukee reportedly offered about $214 million in local and state incentives in 2017, and Apple committed $100 million to a public fund and $4 million toward Triumph Park.

The city receives $500,000 a year per building under its deal with Apple, AppleInsider reported. Any further data center buildings on the campus need separate site plan approval from the City of Waukee.