Meta Doubles Louisiana AI Cluster To 5 GW, Lifts Richland Parish Bill To $50B
Meta says its Hyperion supercluster in Richland Parish, Louisiana will grow to 5 GW and cost more than $50 billion, nearly doubling its original 2 GW plan for the AI training campus.
Key Takeaways
Meta is expanding its Hyperion AI cluster in Richland Parish, Louisiana to 5 GW at a cost of more than $50 billion, nearly double the original 2 GW, ~$27 billion plan announced with Blue Owl Capital.
Hyperion will be Meta's largest data center globally, supporting over 7,500 construction jobs at peak and 1,000 permanent roles once online.
Meta has spent over $1 billion on local roads, water and wastewater upgrades and contracted $1.6 billion with Louisiana suppliers; a new Entergy Louisiana deal is expected to save customers roughly $2.65 billion over 20 years.
The expansion supports Meta's plan to scale computing capacity to about 14 GW by 2027, up from a 2026 target near 7 GW.
Hyperion is one of Zuckerberg's 'titan clusters' meant to train frontier models like the in-training Watermelon model and run inference on Meta's MTIA 'Iris' chip entering TSMC production in September.
Kaan Tınmaz
Meta Platforms is nearly doubling the size of its flagship Louisiana AI cluster, saying on July 13 that the Richland Parish campus will expand to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity and cost more than $50 billion — up from the roughly $27 billion, 2 GW plan disclosed with Blue Owl Capital last fall.
Hyperion Becomes Meta's Biggest AI Campus
The site will host Hyperion, described by Meta as its largest multi-gigawatt AI training cluster, and will be the largest facility in the company's global data center fleet. Construction, run by DPR Construction, Turner Construction and Mortenson, will support more than 7,500 jobs at peak and 1,000 permanent roles once online, Meta said in its Deepening our investment in Richland Parish update.
$1 Billion In Local Infrastructure, $2.65B In Entergy Savings
The company said it has already spent more than $1 billion on roads, water and wastewater upgrades and contracted $1.6 billion with Louisiana suppliers. A new energy agreement with Entergy Louisiana is expected to deliver roughly $2.65 billion in customer savings over 20 years, on top of an earlier $650 million pact, while funding seven natural-gas plants, three grid-scale batteries and nuclear uprates.
Race To 14 GW By 2027
The Louisiana expansion is central to Meta's plan to scale its computing footprint to about 14 GW by 2027, up from a 2026 target near 7 GW. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has framed Hyperion as one of several "titan clusters" his Superintelligence Labs will need to train frontier models such as the still-in-training Watermelon foundation model, and to run inference for Meta's own MTIA "Iris" AI chip that begins TSMC production in September.
Reporting based on Meta Data Centers' "Deepening our investment in Richland Parish, Louisiana" (July 13, 2026) and CNBC coverage.
Meta says the Hyperion supercluster in Richland Parish will grow to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity and cost more than $50 billion, nearly double the original 2 GW, roughly $27 billion plan.
How many jobs will the Richland Parish project create?
Meta says construction will support more than 7,500 jobs at peak, with 1,000 permanent roles once the facility is online.
How will the expanded campus be powered?
A new agreement with Entergy Louisiana funds seven natural-gas plants, three grid-scale batteries and nuclear uprates, and is expected to deliver about $2.65 billion in customer savings over 20 years, on top of an earlier $650 million pact.
Why is Meta building Hyperion?
Hyperion is one of several 'titan clusters' for Meta's Superintelligence Labs, intended to train frontier models like the Watermelon foundation model and run inference for Meta's MTIA 'Iris' AI chip, as part of scaling to about 14 GW of compute by 2027.
