That quote seems more like political-speak than actual hard numbers. The article also said that the state government gave Apple $46 million in tax breaks, while local government cut their property taxes by 50 percent and personal taxes by 85 percent. I'm hard-pressed to see how the taxpayers aren't subsidizing this datacenter.
Money is fungible; tax breaks are no different in function than charging the full tax rate but handing Apple a pile of cash equivalent to what they'd have saved with the tax break.
It's a subsidy. The argument that they made more with the subsidy than they would have without it is separate from the idea that tax breaks don't amount to a subsidy (which was yummyfajitas assertion).
Town Manager William “Todd” Herms said Apple’s presence boosts the town’s tax base and helps it lower overall taxes...
Apple benefits from reduced taxes, and the town gets 50% of something rather than 100% of nothing.