Meta Plans Massive AI Data Centers to Boost Computing Power

Meta is expanding its artificial intelligence infrastructure with the construction of a new data center, Hyperion, which is expected to provide five gigawatts of computational power for its AI lab, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a post on Threads, Zuckerberg said Hyperion's footprint would be large enough to cover most of Manhattan and will be scaled up over several years. The facility is located in Richland Parish, northeast Louisiana, where Meta previously announced a $10 billion data center project initially planned for two gigawatts.

Zuckerberg also revealed plans for another major data center, Prometheus, a one-gigawatt super cluster set to go online in 2026 near New Albany, Ohio. This would make Meta one of the first technology companies to operate an AI data center of this size. The company’s investments in these facilities are intended to strengthen its position against competitors such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic by providing the computational resources needed to train advanced AI models.

The scale of these data centers is expected to have significant impacts on local energy and water resources. Together, Hyperion and Prometheus will require enough energy to power millions of homes. Previous Meta data center projects have already affected local communities; for example, a facility in Newton County, Georgia, was reported to have contributed to water shortages for some residents, according to The New York Times. Other companies, such as CoreWeave, are also planning expansions that could double the electricity needs of nearby cities.

Federal officials have expressed support for the growth of AI infrastructure. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright wrote in The Economist that the government would accelerate energy production from various sources to support AI development, describing AI as transforming electricity into "the most valuable output imaginable: intelligence." Experts predict that data centers could account for up to 20% of U.S. energy consumption by 2030, compared to 2.5% in 2022, raising concerns about the sustainability of such rapid expansion.