Meta lifts Louisiana data center capacity to 5 gigawatts, investment hits $50 billion

Meta announced today that it will expand its Richland Parish, Louisiana data center to 5 gigawatts of computing power, and the tech giant has also raised its committed investment into the site past the $50 billion mark. 

The expansion of the planned data center, termed “Hyperion” by Meta, will support more than 1,000 jobs once it starts running at full capacity. This figure is double the job commitment Meta had made previously for the facility.

Meta continues outlay for data center project

Reports also claim that the $50 billion figure may understate the real cost of building this data center. Meta is reported to have committed an additional $40 billion to the campus, and a total expected outlay for the data center is about $250 billion.

Much of this amount would go toward the computing chips destined for the nearly 4,000-acre site. However, Meta has not publicly disclosed any spending beyond the $50 billion figure.

The tech giant’s first commitment towards the data center and the surrounding community was $10 billion, before the number grew by even more over time.

Alongside Meta, Blue Owl Capital owns an 80% stake in the site and has raised billions on Wall Street to fund construction. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend at least $600 billion on US infrastructure over the next several years, with Meta currently at a count of 33 data centers built or in development. Last week, the company committed $10 billion to its first data center in Canada.

Who pays for the required power?

Running 5 gigawatts of compute takes an enormous amount of electricity. Entergy Louisiana is building 10 new gas-fired power plants to feed the data center. It is expected that more than 2 gigawatts of power will be required to cover the campus’ general electrical needs and not just the servers themselves.

Meta has said it will cover the data center’s energy, water, and infrastructure costs, stating that an accompanying energy deal was a benefit to residents. The agreement with Entergy Louisiana is expected to save their customers more than $2 billion over 20 years, the company said.

Meta also plans to spend more than $1 billion upgrading local roads, water, and wastewater systems.

Rural Parish sees reshape due to AI investment

The clearest signs of the project’s impact are in Richland Parish’s schools. Teachers there recently received annual bonuses of almost $50,000, up from $10,000 a year earlier, due to the tax revenue from the data center.

“It’s life-altering for our teachers and their families, and it’s transforming our schools,” Richland Parish School District Superintendent Sheldon Jones said in a statement quoted by Fox Business. Jones added that the money has helped the district recruit stronger teacher candidates.

Meta is also putting $5 million into Louisiana Delta Community College to fund scholarships for residents training for data center jobs. Starting with the class of 2026, every Richland Parish high school graduate will qualify for a full scholarship in a data center trade program.

This move follows Meta’s June launch of America’s Workforce Academy, a skilled-trades program that offers free tuition and guaranteed jobs to graduates.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said Meta is looking at acquiring as much computing power as it can get to chase what he calls AI superintelligence.