Apple delays plans for RTP campus in RTP. Company says it’s still committed to region

Consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. is delaying plans to build a corporate campus in Research Triangle Park. But the company says it’s still committed to growing in the region.

Apple executives briefed state officials last week on its plans to move forward with one of the region’s biggest economic deveopment projects. The company wants to delay the start of the project by up to four years after a review of its real estate, according to people familiar with Apple’s plans.

The maker of MacBook computers and mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones announced plans in 2021 to build a 1 million-square-foot research and development campus in RTP — a project expected to create 3,000 jobs in Wake County.

Apple said at the time that it planned to invest more than $1 billion in the state by 2032. The project is expected to grow the state’s economy by $79.8 billion over 39 years, state officials said in 2021.

In the past three years, Apple has hired more than 600 people in the Triangle and it continues to hire in the region, according to the company and government officials. The company now employs roughly 1,600 people in the state.

“Apple has been operating in North Carolina for over two decades, and we’re deeply committed to growing our teams here,” Rachel Wolf Tulley, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement on Monday. “… We’re looking forward to developing our new campus in the coming years.”

Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement Monday that he’s spoken with executives at the company. “They emphasized their commitment to build this transformative campus here in North Carolina,” he said, adding that the project “will ultimately be among the company’s most significant campuses.”

State commerce officials approved an economic incentives package in 2021 that included grants of up to $845.8 million to be paid out to Apple over 39 years, provided the company hit various performance goals. The promised jobs were expected to offer salaries that average $187,001 — almost three times the county average at the time of the announcement.

Commerce officials are now conducting a regular review of the status of economic incentives related to the company’s plans.