Apple upstages Amazon in selecting new tech hub locations

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about Apple's new campus announcement as Apple employees listen in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Dec, 13, 2018. Apple plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, that will create at least 5,000 jobs ranging from engineers to call-center agents while adding more luster to a Southwestern city that has already become a bustling tech hub. The decision, announced Thursday, comes 11 months after Apple CEO Tim Cook disclosed plans to open a major office outside California on the heels of a massive tax break passed by Congress last year. (Ricardo Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

AUSTIN, Texas: One tech giant strung dozens of North American cities through a circus-like contest that led mayors and governors to desperately pitch their regions – and offer huge sums of public money – in hopes of landing a gleaming new corporate campus. The other swept in quietly before making its big move. 

The outcome was largely the same: Amazon and Apple are running out of room in their West Coast hometowns and establishing a major foothold in a handful of US cities already known as second-tier technology hubs.