Meta Platforms confirmed that its data center campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana will be expanded to reach 5 gigawatts of compute capacity, a scale the company says is intended to support its artificial intelligence initiatives.
The company said that since ground was broken in December 2024, local Louisiana businesses have secured in excess of $1.6 billion in contracts related to the construction and development of the site. Meta characterized the broader project in the region as representing an investment of more than $50 billion.
Meta also outlined plans for further spending on public works tied to the campus. The company indicated it will invest in excess of $1 billion for local infrastructure projects, citing needs that include roads and water and wastewater systems.
That $50 billion figure for the Richland Parish investment is consistent with a statement made last year by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said the company’s data center project would cost $50 billion.
The announcement places Meta alongside other large technology firms that have been directing substantial capital into AI-focused data centers and associated computing power, a trend the company says reflects demand continuing to exceed supply.
In addition to the Louisiana project, Meta has committed to a broad U.S. investment plan. The company said it will invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years as it builds out large-scale data centers to support CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s AI agent technology projects.
The company’s statements emphasize both the scale of compute capacity planned for the Richland Parish campus and the intended local infrastructure improvements designed to support that expansion. The timing and stated financial commitments are presented as part of Meta’s larger push to scale capacity for AI workloads.
Context and implications
The expansion to 5 gigawatts is positioned by Meta as a component of its broader AI infrastructure strategy, tied to substantial regional investment and local contracting activity. The company has specified amounts allocated to local infrastructure while reiterating a nationwide investment commitment associated with its AI programs.