Meta to Expand Louisiana Data Center 2.5-Fold to 5 Gigawatts, Raise Investment Above $50 Billion

Meta Platforms, which had stoked concerns about a semiconductor peak with plans to sell excess computing power to outside customers, said it will expand a data center now under construction.

Meta said in a blog post on July 13 that it will increase computing capacity at its Louisiana data center to 5 gigawatts from 2 gigawatts and lift investment in the project to more than $50 billion.

The Hyperion data center in Louisiana, which is being built to train large language models, was originally planned at 2 gigawatts. The investment is also nearly double the $27 billion that Meta and Blue Owl Capital announced in October.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed a bill granting a 20-year sales-tax exemption for data centers built before 2029 to help secure Meta's investment in the facility.

Meta said the expansion will also include more than $1 billion in local infrastructure upgrades, including roads, water and sewer systems.

Construction on the data center began in December 2024. Like other large technology companies, Meta is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI data centers and computing power as demand for AI infrastructure continues to outstrip supply.

CNBC reported that, unlike conventional data centers, Meta's supercluster will be filled with advanced graphics processing units and related hardware optimized for AI workloads.

A Meta spokesperson said the Hyperion project is expected to reach 2 gigawatts by 2030, though the company has not set a timeline for completing the full 5-gigawatt project.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has been investing aggressively in AI agents, pledged to invest $600 billion in US infrastructure and jobs over the next three years.

Kim Jung-a, guest reporter for Hankyung.com, kja@hankyung.com