Open Source: Is the Apple RTP campus coming in 2026? Maybe.

I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.

Apple is a super secretive company. But a new batch of public records released this week gave a clue into its plans in Research Triangle Park.

The clue: In May, a Raleigh-based engineering firm hired by Apple wrote in a traffic impact analysis that 2026 was the anticipated “build-out” year for Apple’s future 3,000-worker Wake County campus.

Build-out means completing Phase 1 of the project, which the latest site plans show including three office buildings, three accessory buildings and a parking garage — together totaling almost 900,000 square feet south of Lake Betz and on either side of N.C. 540.

So, 2026 is when Apple will arrive with its much-anticipated main RTP campus? Perhaps!

I asked Kimley-Horn, the firm that conducted the traffic analysis, but I was kindly directed to send my timeline questions to Apple. An Apple spokesperson then reached out on background to (also kindly) say the company had no comment to add. Apple hasn’t publicly updated its RTP plans since they were first announced in April 2021.

Secretive indeed.

The N.C. Department of Transportation did shed insight on how much stock to put into the listed build-out year in a traffic impact analysis.

North Carolina requires traffic impact analyses, or TIAs, for projects that are expected to add at least 3,000 daily vehicular trips. Kimley-Horn’s study found Apple’s RTP campus could add 5,500 trips a day.

“If a development were a couple years behind on their intended build-out date, we wouldn’t request another TIA except potentially in a case where their site plan changed or another significant development popped up in the area,” said NCDOT spokesperson Aaron Moody.

“In other words, there’s no need for a new TIA if the expected impact from the development hasn’t changed.”

So, 2026 is the non-binding year an Apple-hired firm put in a traffic study about the future RTP campus. In other words, it’s a clue. When reporting on Apple, clues are often what you get.

As we wait for more campus news, Apple must begin hitting annual local hiring targets starting this year, per its state incentive agreement. 126 positions in 2023. 378 total positions by the end of 2024. The N.C. Department of Commerce expects to receive a report from Apple on its RTP hiring progress in March.

Onto the rest of this week’s news:

Epic win for Epic could mean millions (or billions?)

After spending three years and a whole lot of money, Epic Games landed a big victory this week when a San Francisco jury found Google engages in anticompetitive practices via its app payment system.

The nine-person jury took only three hours to deliberate. According to a journalist in the courtroom, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney grinned once the verdict was announced.

“Victory over Google!” he later posted on X. In a separate company post, Epic championed the decision as “a win for all app developers and consumers around the world.”

Later in the week, Sweeney told CNN he thought Google lost because their executives put too much in writing, with this paper trail ultimately dooming the search engine behemoth.

Google says it plans to appeal. And the judge still has to determine the penalty.

For Epic, the Cary-based company that laid off more than 800 workers this year, the ruling could mean a welcome influx of revenue. At one point in the trial, a Google attorney tried to get the billionaire Sweeney to admit Epic would make hundreds of millions of dollars if it could circumvent Google’s service fees, especially for its super-popular game Fortnite.

“I think it would be billions of dollars.” Sweeney replied.

In more Epic antitrust news, the U.S. Supreme Court should soon decide whether to take up the company’s long-running monopoly case against Apple.

While the contours of the two cases are similar, there are important differences. Google has uniquely offered app developers different revenue sharing deals, which the jury found promoted anticompetitive behavior. The Epic v. Apple case has also only been decided by judges, who have so far largely sided with the Cupertino, California, company.

Triangle gets a Starbucks union

By a comfortable 16-2 tally, Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors in South Durham on Monday voted to unionize — becoming the first Triangle-area Starbucks to do so.

“We are fighting for better pay in the form of a wage that is actually livable, better staffing at peak and closing times, more consistent schedules, and more autonomy of our own benefits,” texted Russell Calzaretta, 32, a shift supervisor at the unionizing store, which sits across from Southpoint mall.

More than 370 Starbucks have unionized in the past two years, but the pro-union track record in North Carolina has been more mixed compared to the nationwide success rate. This includes previous losses in Durham and Raleigh.

The unionizing Starbucks is in the same shopping center as the REI store that organized earlier this year.

While the state’s unionization rates overall remain glued to the bottom of national rankings, Calzaretta said “union organizing is knocking on our door in NC.”

Short Stuff: A 15-minute park

• Paying an extra $61,000 in taxes sounds awful, but that’s what happened to one startup founder in Durham. Here’s why.

• The Raleigh startup Howso is on a mission to defeat “black box” artificial intelligence platforms. Its CEO explained why its technology is superior, and he used a cereal analogy to help.

• More tax news. A new study coauthored by NC State professor Christina Lewellen found companies are sidestepping a 2017 law designed to keep corporations from using other countries to avoid paying higher U.S. taxes.

• Can Research Triangle Park become a 15-minute city? As more office space sits vacant, local leaders say the research park needs a change. Can new zoning (and a drinking district) facilitate a transformation?

National tech Happenings

• Supercomputing and artificial intelligence use a lot of energy. Microsoft is investing in nuclear power to meet this growth.

• Citing a need to stay ahead of China, New York State will invest $1 billion in a chip research center around Albany. IBM (headquartered two hours south in Armonk, New York) and other chip research companies will join the effort.

• Pivot tables for the win. Last weekend in Las Vegas, 16 competitors met for the National Excel Championship (yup). The winner got $3,000, a trophy, and unique bragging rights.

Thanks for reading!

Open Source

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