NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The largest artificial intelligence data centre ever built by Facebook’s parent company Meta is coming to northeast Louisiana, the company said on Wednesday, bringing hopes that the USD10 billion facility will transform an economically neglected corner of the state.
Republican Governor Jeff Landry called it “game-changing” for his state’s expanding tech sector, yet some environmental groups have raised concerns over the center’s reliance on fossil fuels – and whether the plans for new natural gas power to support it could lead to higher energy bills in the future for Louisiana residents.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is expanding its existing supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, the city’s chamber of commerce said on Wednesday.
The chamber also said that Nvidia, Dell, and Supermicro Computer will be “establishing operations in Memphis,” without offering further details.
Louisiana is among a growing number of states offering tax credits and other incentives to lure big tech firms seeking sites for energy-intensive data centres.
The United States (US) Commerce Department found that there aren’t enough data centres in the US to meet the rising AI-fuelled demand, which is projected to grow by nine per cent each year through 2030, citing industry reports. Meta anticipates its Louisiana data centre will create 500 operational jobs and 5,000 temporary construction jobs, said director of data centre strategy Kevin Janda.
At four million square feet, it will be the company’s largest AI data centre to date, he added.
“We want to make sure we are having a positive impact on the local level,” Janda said.
Congressional leaders and local representatives from across the political spectrum heralded the Meta facility as a boon for Richland parish, a rural part of Louisiana with a population of 20,000 historically reliant on agriculture. About one in four residents are considered to live in poverty and the parish has an employment rate below 50 per cent, according to the US census data.
Meta plans to invest USD200 million into road and water infrastructure improvements for the parish to offset its water usage. The facility is expected to be completed in 2030.
Entergy, one of the nation’s largest utility providers, is fast-tracking plans to build three natural gas power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 2,262 megawatts for Meta’s data centre over a 15-year period – nearly one-tenth of Entergy’s existing energy capacity across four states.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission is weighing Entergy’s proposal as some environmental groups have opposed locking the state into more fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure. Meta said it plans to help bring 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy onto the grid in the future.
Louisiana residents may ultimately end up with rate increases to pay off the cost of operating these natural gas power plants when Meta’s contract with Entergy expires, said state policy director Jessica Hendricks for the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a Louisiana-based non-profit advocating for energy consumers.
“There’s no reason why residential customers in Louisiana need to pay for a power plant for energy that they’re not going to use,” Hendricks said. “And we want to make sure that there’s safeguards in place.”
