July 13 (Reuters) - Meta said on Monday its data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, will expand to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity, with investment in the project increasing to more than $50 billion.
The planned data center, known as Hyperion, was earlier projected to deliver more than 2 gigawatts of compute capacity to support training of large language models, the technology behind tools such as ChatGPT.
Here are some details:
• The announcement comes as environmental and consumer groups increasingly push back against the energy-intensive buildout.
• U.S. environmental law group Earthjustice's request to investigate the financing of Meta's Louisiana data center project was denied earlier this year.
• Earthjustice had said the financing arrangement could ultimately shift project costs unfairly onto utility customers if Meta walks away from the project before the utility recovers its investment.
• Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump had said the company's data center project would cost $50 billion.
• Since breaking ground in December 2024, local Louisiana businesses have received more than $1.6 billion in contracts from Meta, the company said.
• With this expansion, the company said it plans to invest over $1 billion in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water and wastewater systems.
• Meta also said teachers in Richland Parish recently received annual bonuses of up to $50,000, a 400% increase from the previous year, thanks to increased tax revenues from the company's data center project.
• Meta, like its Big Tech peers, has been pouring billions of dollars into AI data centers and computing power, as demand continues to outstrip supply.
• The company has pledged to invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years.
• Meta currently has 32 data centers across the globe in operation or under construction, 28 of which are in the United States.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Devika Syamnath)
