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The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly. The Internet was swarming earlier this week with rumours Apple is using its North Carolina data center to host Nuance Communications software, and that it could already be hosting some of its hardware there.
The US$1bn data center, taking up a massive plot in Catawba County, has not been officially opened and Apple has been tight lipped on details on the build and its planned use.
Nuance Communications' speech recognition software is used for Apple's iPhone, and reports by TechCrunch earlier in the week suggested Apple was in talks to buy the company. Such rumours have sent Nuance shares to a three-year high of US$22.93.
In November last year, retired Apple founder Steve Wozniak made a public apology for suggesting Apple had already purchased Nuance Communications, sending its shares to what was then a two-and-a-half year high.
"I thought I'd read about it but obviously got it all wrong,"Wozniak told Reuters in an e-mail.
"Nuance licenses its technology to many vendors including competitors to Apple. By acquiring Nuance, its value goes down because its competitors would stop licensing Nuance."
TechCrunch said it had had a number of "independent confirmations" that Apple was hosting Nuance. It said by having the technology inhouse Apple could process voice information much faster for its own users and prevent passing through third-party servers.