Meta's Louisiana data center investment to reach $50 billion

Meta has announced a significant expansion of its Hyperion data center supercluster in Richland Parish, Louisiana, with the project now expected to cost over $50 billion and reach a capacity of 5 gigawatts (GW).

Key Details

• Capacity: The facility will be a 5GW data center, up from the originally planned 2GW.
• Cost: Estimated at over $50 billion, a sharp increase from the $27 billion figure disclosed in October 2025.
• Timeline: Construction began in December 2024; the expansion was announced in a company blog post on Monday.

Background

The October 2025 announcement revealed that Meta had formed a joint venture with Blue Owl Capital to support the buildout and management of the facility. At that time, the project was valued at $27 billion.

Meta and its hyperscaler rivals—Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon—are capitalizing on tax rebates and energy deals offered by states competing for a share of the artificial intelligence boom.

State Incentives

In late 2024, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed into law a 20-year sales tax exemption for data centers built before 2029. This legislation was part of a broader effort to attract Meta to the state, as previously reported by CNBC.

Governor Landry is scheduled to host a press event on Monday in Baton Rouge.

"I'm a business guy," Landry told CNBC in an interview last year. "What we know is when you look at the overall comprehensive package here, it's in the black. For local government, and the state, and how you get to the bottom line is irrespective to me."

Meta's AI Ambitions

The expansion comes as Meta accelerates its multi-hundred-billion-dollar artificial intelligence buildout. The announcement follows Meta's best week on the stock market since early 2024, driven by the release of two major AI models under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, head of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Investors have been closely watching for returns on the company's outsized AI investments.

Local Economic Impact

Meta stated in Monday's blog post that the company "pays the full costs of the energy, water, and related infrastructure the data center uses so consumers aren't paying the cost."

Since construction began in December 2024, local businesses have received over $1.6 billion in contracts from Meta.

"With this expansion, we will be investing over $1 billion in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water and wastewater systems," Meta said.

Financial Partners

Meta did not announce a financial partner for the expansion. When the project initially launched, the estimated cost was $10 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted in a Facebook post roughly six months later that the Hyperion supercluster would be "able to scale up to 5GW over several years."

Unlike traditional data centers, superclusters are packed with graphics processing units (GPUs) and related cutting-edge hardware tailored for AI workloads.