Apple warns delays could threaten $1-billion project in Ireland

Apple has warned Irish authorities that continuing delays around its proposed data centre in the west of the country could jeopardise the $1-billion project, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The iPhone maker, which scouted 19 countries before choosing Ireland, raised concern that the project remains mired in the planning process, according to the people who asked not be named because the matter is private. The plan to build a data centre in a Galway forest, due to cover 166,000 square meters, the equivalent to about 23 soccer fields, close to the Atlantic coast was announced in 2015 and had been expected to be completed this year.

Instead, Apple is still awaiting a court hearing into a challenge by objectors into the planning approval for the project. The company is also worried that plans to power the centre could also be contested, adding additional delays, though it hasn’t given Ireland a deadline for completing the process, according to one of the people.