Apple may be turning to Ireland to help meet consumer demand

Even with tens of billions of dollars and one of the world’s largest and most advanced supply chains, Apple still can’t keep up with the massive demand for its products. This is the kind of problem that most companies would love to have, but for Apple, all this means is that it’s not making as much money as it can. In order to remedy this, the company us considering another expansion to its factory in Cork, Ireland.

Apple is considering yet another expansion of its factory in Cork, Ireland in order to cope with overwhelming global demand for its products, a report said on Monday. If Apple moves forward, the new expansion would build into a Cork County Council land bank which for 20 years has served as a Traveller halting site, according to Independent.ie. The company could be ready to almost double its factory space, although it’s reportedly weighing that against a smaller expansion. The company spent €300 million ($334.3 million) on an expansion just a year and a half ago, and also has leases in two downtown Cork office blocks. Elsewhere, Apple is working on a €850 million ($947.5 million) datacenter in Galway. It’s uncertain what Apple would produce with the extra factory space, but Cork manufacturing has traditionally centered around Macs, rather than devices like iPhones and iPads, which are assembled in China. The report suggested that the project could add millions of euros to the Cork construction industry and create hundreds of jobs.