Meta, the tech giant, has teamed up with the state of Indiana to build its newest data center. The project involves constructing a massive 700,000-square-foot campus in Jefferson, which is about 825 miles from Indiana’s capital. Meta and Indiana’s Governor, Eric J. Holcomb, jointly announced this exciting development on January 25.
The center is designed to support Meta’s global data requirements, including its operations in artificial intelligence (AI). The construction of this facility is set to start in January to complete it by 2026. It’s anticipated that during the peak construction phase, the project could provide jobs to as many as 1,250 workers. Following completion, the center is expected to offer around 100 high-wage jobs.
Meta has emphasized that this new data center in Jeffersonville will be environmentally friendly right from the start. The plan is to power the facility entirely with renewable energy. This commitment aligns with Meta’s goal of achieving LEED Gold certification for its data centers, indicating a high standard of environmental sustainability.
This expansion comes at a crucial time for Meta, which has recently regained its status in the trillion-dollar valuation club, a milestone it last reached in 2021. This resurgence is primarily credited to Meta’s advancements in generative artificial intelligence.
Regarding hardware, Meta plans to significantly increase its GPU count to 350,000 H100s, a stark comparison to OpenAI’s use of about 10,000 GPUs for training ChatGPT.
The state of Indiana is playing a supportive role in this project. According to Governor Holcomb’s office, Meta will benefit from a sales tax exemption for the data center for the first 35 years of its operation. This exemption could extend up to 50 years if Meta makes additional investments of $800 million or more at the site within the specified period.
