Tech giants continue to fuel the artificial intelligence boom, with Meta kicking off a $10 billion data center investment in the Bayou State, said Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry during a press conference Wednesday.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram selected New York City-based Turner Construction, Redwood City, California-based DPR and Minneapolis-based Mortenson to build the multibillion-dollar data center in Richland Parish near Monroe, Louisiana, according to the news release.
The facility will spread across 4 million square feet and ranks as Meta’s largest investment yet in its AI portfolio, according to Meta.
“This Richland Parish data center is going to play a pivotal role in advancing Meta’s overall AI efforts,” said Kevin Janda, director of data center infrastructure at Meta. “This data center will be optimized for our AI workloads and be the largest data center in our fleet.”
Meta’s investment reflects a broader surge in data center construction, driven by growing demand for digital infrastructure and AI capabilities. Big tech firms are set to deploy more than $180 billion into data centers and related infrastructure this year, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group.
Meta said at peak construction, more than 5,000 construction workers will be employed on the project.
“Meta, in partnership with Turner, DPR, and Mortenson, will host information fairs at the beginning of the year for interested workers and trade contractors,” said Ben Kaplan, managing director at Turner, in a separate news release. “Please follow each of our company Facebook pages for updates.”
Meta also plans to invest $200 million in local road and water infrastructure upgrades, said Janda, and will add enough clean and renewable energy to the grid to cover 100% of the facility’s electricity use.
As part of the data center plans, Entergy, a New Orleans-based energy company, is requesting approval from the Louisiana Public Service Commission to build at least 1,500 megawatts of new renewable energy to serve the facility, said Janda.
