Meta begins construction on $10b Indiana data center

Meta has begun construction on a new data center in Lebanon, Indiana, marking a significant investment in infrastructure.

The facility is designed to deliver 1 gigawatt of capacity, supporting both AI workloads and core products.

The project is expected to create over 4,000 construction jobs and about 300 operational positions, with additional community support through workforce development programs and grants.

Meta plans to invest over US$10 billion in the site and surrounding community, including funding for local water and road infrastructure.

The company also commits to using 100% renewable energy and aims for LEED Gold certification for the facility.

Additionally, Meta will restore all water used at the site to local watersheds and partner with local farmers on irrigation projects.

The data center is part of Meta’s broader efforts to expand infrastructure while engaging with community and environmental initiatives.

🔗 Source: Meta

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

### The Indiana data center is part of Meta’s broader AI-era infrastructure build-out

The Lebanon, Indiana site fits into Meta’s plan for gigawatt-scale AI capacity, including its planned 1-gigawatt “Prometheus” cluster. Meta says Prometheus spans several data center buildings plus weatherproof tents and nearby colocation facilities (third-party data centers that rent space, power, and cooling) 1.
Meta says these builds support training and serving models such as Llama 3. It also said it built two clusters of 24,000 H100s each (Nvidia’s H100 AI chips) in late 2023 to support AI work 1.
Meta paused work on around a dozen facilities in late 2022 while it adjusted designs for GPUs (graphics processing units used for AI) and liquid cooling. It later restarted construction using updated plans 2.
Meta’s “Catalina” liquid-cooled rack design can run up to 140kW (kilowatts, a measure of power draw). Meta also described a six-rack “Catalina pod” that adds air-assisted liquid-cooling side pods to raise compute density in buildings built for lower rack densities 2, 1.

### Hyperscale data centers are changing the relationship between tech giants and public infrastructure

These sites use large amounts of electricity and water, which can strain local systems and shift how towns negotiate with tech companies.
Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) says Wabash Valley Power Alliance, which supplies electricity to Boone REMC (Boone Rural Electric Membership Corporation, a local electric cooperative), plans a 1,300% spending jump on local transmission projects. CAC ties the increase to interconnecting the new Meta facility in the LEAP district, and it raises concerns about ratepayer costs 3.
Local governments offer large incentives, including a 35-year sales tax exemption for Meta’s Jeffersonville, Indiana facility. Meta said the site would support about 100 permanent operational jobs 4.
Meta said it will invest more than $120 million in water infrastructure for Lebanon, plus upgrades to roads, transmission lines, and area utilities. Microsoft’s Brad Smith (the company’s president) also said Microsoft will “bear the cost” when electricity companies need transmission upgrades for data center demand 5.