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 The company said the centers, in Ireland and Denmark, will power
Apple's online services, including the iTunes Store, App Store,
iMessage, Maps and Siri for customers across Europe.
The investment is set to be evenly divided between the two
countries, with the Irish government confirming that 850 million
euros would be spent in Ireland. The two data centers are expected
to begin operations in 2017.
"This significant new investment represents Apple's biggest project
in Europe to date," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
"We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of
local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building
designs yet," he added.
 The data center in Ireland will be located in Athenry, close to
Galway on the west coast while in Denmark, it will be in Viborg,
western Denmark.
In a sign of how important Apple's investment in Denmark was, the
country's trade and development minister issued a statement
mirroring that of the iPhone maker's, adding the two data centers
would be among the largest in the world.
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Ireland's government also reacted to the announcement, saying 300
jobs would be added in the county of Galway during the multiple
phases of the project, a boost as it seeks to cut the unemployment
rate below 10 percent this year.
"As the Government works to secure recovery and see it spread to
every part of the country, today's announcement is another extremely
positive step in the right direction,” Irish Prime Minister Enda
Kenny said in a statement.
(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru, Sabina Zawadzki in
Copenhagen and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Ted Kerr and
Keith Weir)
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