Meta is developing a massive 5GW data center to boost AI infrastructure, with Mark Zuckerberg commenting that one cluster of the facility takes up an area roughly equivalent to a significant portion of Manhattan.
Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook, has announced plans to build multiple 5-gigawatt (GW) data centers, primarily to support its AI superintelligence ambitions. These data centers are set to have significant locations and impacts, both positive and challenging, across various regions.
### Planned Locations for Meta’s 5GW Data Centers
The first 1 GW cluster of Meta’s data centers will be located in New Albany, Ohio, known as Prometheus. Expected to come online in 2026, Prometheus will utilise both Meta’s own infrastructure and leased systems. It will be powered partly by renewable energy and partly by two onsite natural gas plants, each around 200 MW capacity. The cluster features extensive GPU deployment—up to 500,000 GPUs—and ultra-high bandwidth networks for maximum AI computation power.
In Richland Parish, Louisiana, work on another data center, Hyperion, began in 2024. The first 1.5 GW phase is expected to come online next year, with plans to scale up to **5 GW over several years**. Like Prometheus, Hyperion will use a mix of renewable energy and natural gas power generation.
Meta is also constructing other large data centers, such as a $750 million facility in Newton County, Georgia, which has raised concerns regarding local resource use, particularly water consumption.
### Impact on Energy Grids and Local Communities
Combined, these data centers will consume gigawatts of power—enough to supply millions of homes. The massive electrical load will rely on a combination of renewable energy and significant onsite natural gas generation capacity. This blend aims to meet Meta’s heavy and constant demand while addressing energy grid reliability and environmental concerns.
However, large-scale Meta data centers have been reported to consume huge volumes of water, leading to local water shortages. For example, the data center in Georgia reportedly uses about 10% of the county’s total water supply, leading to wells running dry for local residents despite Meta contesting some details of the reports.
Bringing several multi-gigawatt clusters online will require significant upgrades or enhancements to local power grids and infrastructure. Natural gas plants onsite help meet these demands but also add fossil fuel dependency.
In conclusion, Meta’s 5GW data centers are focused on Ohio and Louisiana, with additional projects in states like Georgia, designed to support massive AI compute workloads while posing serious challenges to local energy and water infrastructures. The data centers' scale rivals that of a large city, and their construction reflects Meta’s push to lead in AI superintelligence technology.
- The data centers, such as Prometheus in Ohio and Hyperion in Louisiana, with plans to scale up to 5 GW, are leveraging cloud computing technology, particularly in terms of AI supercomputation, with extensive GPU deployment and ultra-high bandwidth networks.
- The construction of these 5GW data centers, expected to rely on a combination of renewable energy and natural gas power generation, is raising concerns about local resource utilization, particularly energy and water consumption, which may pose challenges to the infrastructure and local communities, especially in regions like Georgia.
