Apple Selects Mesa For A New Manufacturing Plant
Download mp3 (770.1 KB)Apple has selected Arizona as the location for its newest manufacturing facility. The plant will be located in the vacant First Solar Factory in Mesa.
After weeks of speculation, Governor Brewer’s office and the Arizona Commerce Authority confirmed Monday that Apple selected the Mesa location.
Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said the factory will permanently employ 700 workers. He said there also will be 1,300 temporary construction jobs created to retrofit the building.
"This is a large structure. It’s larger than a regional mall where we all go shopping. That’s a lot of square footage. It’s gotta be built out so that it can be a manufacturing facility” said Smith.
Smith said Apple has vowed to use 100 percent renewable energy for the factory that will rely on solar and geothermal power. Smith said Arizona has a highly skilled workforce and he’s hopeful having Apple here will attract more high tech companies to the state.
