London - Apple on Monday said it plans to invest €1.7bn ($2bn) to expand its business in Europe by building two data centres in Ireland and Denmark.
"This significant new investment represents Apple's biggest project in Europe to date," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.
"We're thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet," Cook said.
The data centres in Athenry, Ireland and Viborg, Denmark will each cover some 166 000m2 and are scheduled to begin operations in 2017, Apple said.
The company said it already employs 18 300 people in 19 European countries and indirectly supports some 672 000 European jobs.