Meta META-Q said on Wednesday it was breaking ground on a US$10-billion data centre in Indiana, as it races to secure the massive amounts of computing power needed to support its artificial intelligence ambitions.
The facility is designed to deliver one gigawatt of capacity once operational, the social media giant said. According to U.S. power grid operators, that is the equivalent of powering about 800,000 homes.
Meta forecasts sharp increase to capital expenditures as it builds AI infrastructure
The announcement comes as Meta and other big tech companies compete to out-build each other with increasingly supersized data centres to get ahead in what executives see as a once-in-a-generation AI race, even as environmental and consumer groups increasingly push back against the energy-intensive expansion.
Meta said in November that it will invest US$600-billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, including data centres.
Meta's data centre in Newton County, east of Atlanta, in January. The social media giant is racing to secure massive amounts of computing power.Mike Stewart/The Associated Press
Rachel Peterson, Meta’s vice-president for data centres, told Reuters that the new facility in Lebanon, Ind., should come online at the end of 2027 or early 2028.
“We’re going to be pushing a lot of capacity through construction very quickly at this site,” said Peterson.
She said Meta had agreements with local utility providers in place to supply power to the data center and was “paying our own way” for related energy infrastructure upgrades.
Meta sealed a US$27-billion financing deal in October with alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital to fund a two-gigawatt Louisiana data centre, its biggest project globally, and said it would invest US$1.5-billion in a data centre in Texas.
U.S. environmental law group Earthjustice asked utility regulators to investigate the financing of the Louisiana project last month, saying it threatens to leave everyday homes and businesses on the hook for build-out costs.
Peterson declined to comment on financing plans for the Indiana facility, but said Meta was covering the full US$10-billion investment at the outset.