Meta invests over $1b to build data center in Wisconsin

Meta is investing over US$1 billion to build a new data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to support its AI operations.

The 700,000 square-foot facility is expected to be operational in 2027 and support about 100 full-time jobs.

Meta will work with Alliant Energy and underwrite US$200 million in local energy infrastructure, including new transmission lines and network upgrades.

The company is also building large-scale data centers in Ohio, Texas, and Louisiana to expand computing capacity for AI.

Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives have said the company will invest US$600 billion in the US by 2028, mostly on chips, data centers, and equipment.

These efforts are part of Meta’s strategy to front-load computing capacity as it pursues the goal of developing superintelligence.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Meta’s 2027 target needs a smooth interconnection (the approval and physical connection process for large facilities to access the power grid) as Wisconsin faces shortfall risk by 2025 while the Midwest sees new generation lag coal retirements plus demand growth, which could push the start date if transmission work slips 1. Two Wisconsin AI data center projects will need 3.9 gigawatts (GW) combined 2.
Meta will fund $200 million for energy infrastructure, while American Transmission Co. (a regional utility that builds and operates high-voltage power lines) filed for distribution plus interconnection in Dodge County for a large new load tied to a Beaver Dam data center campus, with the megawatt (MW) capacity plus substation details still undisclosed 1.
WEC Energy Group (a Midwest utility holding company and parent of We Energies) plans $9 billion in renewable projects by 2029 and expects demand to rise about 20% from 2025 to 2029 1.
Alliant Energy added a 100 MW battery energy storage system next to a 200 MW Wisconsin solar project 3 and is advancing a long-duration energy storage project (which can store electricity for many hours) at its Columbia site 4.
Processors typically need 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit 1. Facilities use large amounts of water on-site or through power plants, with gas-fired plants using about 2,803 gallons per megawatt-hour (MWh), according to Clean Wisconsin 2.