Apple has been building a massive 500,000 square foot datacenter in Maden, North Carolina for the last year or so. Even though this datacenter is not even fully operational, Apple has already started work on another matching facility just behind the recently built one.
From All Things Digital:
It’s worth noting that doubling the 500,000-square-foot space may have been Apple’s plan all along. Photos posted to a Catawba County, N.C., Flickr page and labled “Apple_Maiden-07-06-2009-114″ and “Apple_Maiden-07-06-2009-115″ show architectural renderings of the Maiden, N.C., facility with one and two data center structures. An alternate theory being batted around here and at MacRumors, as well: The data center in the video above is actually just 250,000 square feet, and the construction occuring next to it is the beginnings of a second identical structure that would bring the total square footage of data center space to that 500,000-square-foot number. Again, just a theory. I’ll ask around and update here if I discover anything more.
Either way, Apple has got a lot of space and what we presume is a lot of hardware at their disposal now. The presumed purpose of these datacenters will be iTunes/App Store downloads and future streaming content offerings. The two most recent Apple keynotes have been pushed from this facility as load tests for their network.