Both North Carolina and Virginia have or are hurrying to instate tax incentives for projects such as this one, which will cost around twice as much as what Google or Microsoft would typically invest in a data center.

Currently, the company has had to allocate massive resources to its iTunes and iPhone online stores. As downloaded music and apps head into the billions - 1 billion apps and about 6 billion songs have been downloaded so far - and as Apple is surely planning for its future online offerings, more servers and more space become a necessary acquisition.

Apple's last major data center purchase was a $45-50 million dollar investment in early 2006. That Newark, California facility, however, is dwarfed in size and budget by the suspected East Coast project.

The two neighboring states' vying for Apple's millions has caused some slight political upheaval, as well. Virginia's tax incentives were passed earlier this month, and Northern Virginia's technology corridor already contains a wealth of similar facilities. North Carolina critics, on the other hand, are saying that a corporation already worth so much money should need no subsidies to be convinced to invest in their area. The tax breaks in that state would amount to around $46 million over a decade; and although the capital investment would be substantial, only around 50 full-time jobs would be created.