Meta said on July 13 it will expand its Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, to 5 gigawatts (GW) at a cost of more than US$50 billion, up from a 2 GW plan priced at US$27 billion, as it builds more AI infrastructure.

Louisiana approved a 20-year sales tax exemption in late 2024 for data centers built before 2029.

Meta said Hyperion should reach 2 GW by 2030 and 5 GW around 2032.

The company also said local businesses have received more than US$1.6 billion in contracts since construction began in December 2024, and it plans to spend over US$1 billion on roads, water, and wastewater systems.

That would put Hyperion well beyond the industry’s 1 GW benchmark for gigawatt-scale data center campuses.

One contractor on the project said the facility should support more than 500 operational jobs and over 5,000 workers at peak construction.

🔗 Source: CNBC