Apple decides to expand into 7 US cities; NC still comes up empty

AUSTIN, Texas -- Apple announced it would expand to seven cities in the coming years, but Raleigh did not make the cut--nor did any other North Carolina city.

Apple's announcement came a month after Amazon likewise spurned the Tar Heel state.

Apple and Amazon announced in early 2018 and late 2017 respectively that they were searching for cities to expand their businesses.

That sparked a bidding war of sorts with cities across the country offering economic incentive packages and touting their best features.

After the smoke settled, all of North Carolina's efforts appear to be for naught.

Related:Why NC's 2015 'Bathroom Bill' may have kept Amazon's HQ2 away

Apple said Tuesday it will build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, and establish smaller new locations in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, California, the company said Thursday.

The tech giant based in Cupertino, California, said the new campus in Austin will start with 5,000 employees working in engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales, and customer support. It will be less than a mile from existing Apple facilities.

The other new locations will have more than 1,000 employees each.

Austin already is home to more than 6,000 Apple employees, representing the largest population of the company's workers outside of Apple's Cupertino headquarters, where most of its roughly 37,000 California employees work.

The company also said it plans to expand in Pittsburgh, New York, and Colorado over the next three years.

The Austin announcement comes nearly a year after Apple disclosed it would canvas the U.S. for another location.

Cities wooed Apple with various incentives, though Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company wasn't trying to stage a competition like Amazon, which encouraged civic leaders to come up with enticing packages if they wanted their cities to become the home of its second headquarters.

Amazon announced last month that after a 14-month search it had selected Long Island City, Queens, and Arlington, Virginia, as the joint winners.

Each site will get 25,000 jobs.