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.