Apple is planning a massive expansion of its data center in Reno, Nevada, according to information shared today by Reno-Gazette Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon who covered a Reno City Council meeting Apple attended to discuss the project.

Apple will invest $1 billion in expanding its current data center at the Reno Technology Park, nearly doubling the size of the original project.

renodatacenter

Apple's current Reno data center, via the Reno-Gazette Journal
.
Hints of Apple's plans for a major expansion of its data center first surfaced in February, when building permits surfaced for a new 373,893-square foot data center with a build out of eight clusters plus an administration building, garage, and generator yard. It's likely that project, dubbed "Project Isabel," is the expansion being discussed today.

Apple's first Reno data center, "Project Mills," was approved in 2012, with construction at the site beginning soon after. Since then, Apple has been expanding at the site. Along with building permits for "Project Isabel," Apple in 2016 also applied for building permits for "Project Huckleberry," an addition of several new data center clusters to be built adjacent to Project Mills.

Apple is also seeking to start construction on a $4 million shipping and receiving facility in downtown Reno, with today's city council meeting also covering those prospective plans.

Apple and the Reno City Council are currently sorting through tax and zoning issues as Apple aims to purchase land for the downtown project. We'll update this post when the council comes to a decision.

Update: The Reno City Council has approved Apple's plans to build a warehouse in downtown Reno.

Top Rated Comments

rekhyt Avatar
114 months ago
Does anybody actually know, out of interest?
Windows Server 2012, of course. :)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mactendo Avatar
114 months ago
I've often wondered the same thing... what do Apple's data centres run on? Some flavour of UNIX I'd imagine; certainly not macOS and definitely not Windows, if I had to guess.

Does anybody actually know, out of interest? It's something I've always thought about but your comment reminded me to ask. What about Microsoft's server farms or data centres? Do they run on UNIX or some proprietary OS?
BeOS and NeXTSTEP
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tapiture Avatar
114 months ago
I've often wondered the same thing... what do Apple's data centres run on? Some flavour of UNIX I'd imagine; certainly not macOS and definitely not Windows, if I had to guess.

Does anybody actually know, out of interest? It's something I've always thought about but your comment reminded me to ask. What about Microsoft's server farms or data centres? Do they run on UNIX or some proprietary OS?
I'm guessing Apple use CentOS.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
114 months ago
Windows Server 2012, of course. :)
BeOS and NeXTSTEP
Hahaha thanks guys; I guess a funny answer is better than no answer at all. :p
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarDialer Avatar
114 months ago
The smallish part of Apple I worked for I believe used RHEL for the servers to run the web app in customer-facing servers. RHEL = RedHat Enterprise Linux. Oracle for the database backing the app or maybe Postgres (the app preferred Postgres).

I used CentOS (the free unsupported version of RHEL) locally for development in a VM sometimes, otherwise used OS X's UNIXy core. Apple has a TON of internal-only software for all kinds of tasks and uses a lot of open-source, commercial and in-house developed stuff to run the company. Like any other modern company would these days.

If you needed an internal development server you went to a web tool and configured the OS (type, version)/specs you needed and spun one up. Where the VM was physically running you would never know.

A lot of people had PC laptops and used Android phones in the department. There was no hard requirement to use only Apple products, and we in fact targeted Chrome mostly for the web app since Safari couldn't cut it (at the time). I used a big DELL monitor for a second display on my MacBook Pro.

Apple is a massive company with MANY departments all with their own requirements and support. There is probably every server OS currently en-vogue in use across the ENTIRE company to run everything Apple does.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...