As a result of recently passed tax legislation, tech giant Apple said it will be investing $30 billion U.S. facilities over the next five years and create 20,000 U.S.-based jobs. The company says it will also be paying $38 billion in taxes on profits it had kept overseas.
Under the tax law passed by the GOP last month, companies can no longer avoid paying taxes by holding profits overseas. They must pay tax whether they bring the money back or keep it abroad. Apple said in a press release that this tax payment is likely “the largest of its kind ever made.”
The company said the $30 billion investment in U.S. facilities will include a new campus in a soon-to-be-determined location. It will house technical support services for customers. The company already has two campuses: one in Silicon Valley and another in Austin, Texas. At least $10 billion of the new investment will go toward the building of new data centers, where information supportive of services like Apple’s Siri, iMessage and Apple Music are stored.
In related news, online mega-marketplace Amazon has announced that it has narrowed the list of cities it will consider for its second headquarters to twenty. Nearly 240 cities and communities submitted bids to host the new facility.
The company said it plans to locate up to 50,000 employees making an average of $100,000 a year in the new HQ. Some of the criteria Amazon says it’s using in its search are access to a major airport and well-developed infrastructure. Amazon plans to invest more than $5 billion in the new site. The number of new employees would potentially mean billions of dollars in economic activity for the city and surrounding communities.
Some of the finalists include Washington, D.C., New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Austin, Nashville, Raleigh, N.C., Dallas and Columbus, Ohio.