Meta Platforms, Inc. announced on the 13th that it will significantly expand the scale of its "Hyperion" data center supercluster project in Richland Parish, Louisiana, USA. The project's planned capacity will be increased to 5 gigawatts (GW), with an estimated total investment exceeding $50 billion.

Analysts point out that, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are accelerating the global deployment of computing power infrastructure. Meta's expansion of this investment aims to provide computational support for its recently released major AI large language models and signal to the market that its AI investments are gradually translating into technological output and competitive advantages.

According to Meta's disclosed plan, the initial budget for this data center project was $10 billion. Through the establishment of a joint venture with Blue Owl Capital in October last year, the budget was later raised to $27 billion. With this latest investment, the project's total investment has more than doubled to over $50 billion. Based on the construction timeline, the facility is expected to reach 2 GW capacity by 2030 and be fully completed as a 5 GW supercluster around 2032. Unlike traditional data centers, this supercluster will centrally deploy massive quantities of graphics processing units (GPUs) and cutting-edge hardware, specifically designed to handle large-scale artificial intelligence workloads.

The realization of this massive investment benefits from substantial financial and tax policy support provided by local government authorities. To attract tech giants, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry previously signed legislation offering a 20-year sales tax exemption for data centers built before 2029. In media interviews, Landry emphasized that local governments are committed to attracting new industries to stimulate the local economy by providing comprehensive policy packages.

Addressing public concerns about hyperscale data centers consuming public resources, Meta stated in its announcement that the company will fully cover the construction costs for the energy, water, and related infrastructure required for the data center's operation. Since the project commenced in December 2024, it has already awarded over $1.6 billion in contracts to local businesses. Furthermore, the company plans to invest over $1 billion in improving local public infrastructure, including roads, water systems, and wastewater treatment facilities.