Deepening our investment in Richland Parish, Louisiana

We’re expanding our AI-optimized data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana to 5 GW in compute capacity — the largest in Meta’s fleet — supporting over 7,500 jobs at peak construction and 1,000 roles once operational. The site will house Hyperion, our largest multi-gigawatt AI training cluster. This expansion represents an investment of more than $50 billion in the Richland Parish region, supporting Louisiana businesses, local infrastructure improvements, workforce training, and an energy agreement saving Entergy Louisiana customers $2.65 billion over 20 years.

Contributing to the Local Economy

In Richland Parish, we’re striving to support local jobs and economic opportunities throughout the region. To date, we’ve contracted more than $1.6 billion with local Louisiana businesses, driving infrastructure and construction projects across the state. And since breaking ground on the Richland Parish Data Center, we’ve worked closely with three general contractors — DPR Construction, Turner Construction Company, and Mortenson Construction — to hire locally and support workforce development and training programs.

The Data Center will support over 7,500 construction jobs at peak construction and 1,000 operational jobs once completed. These jobs include culinary staff, electricians, HVAC specialists, server and network techs, safety and security experts, and engineers who work together to run some of the world’s most advanced data centers.

We’re also investing in programs and partnerships that connect Louisiana businesses and workers to opportunities at the site — from subcontracting pipelines to workforce development opportunities with local colleges and universities.

With our support, contractors have launched two workforce development programs with Louisiana Delta Community College focused on construction craft work, and we’re expanding partnerships with the University of Louisiana at Monroe and other local institutions. Enrollment at ULM’s construction management school is up 37% year over year, with dozens of graduates already hired by our general contractors.

Beginning today we’re making Source Louisiana — the state’s portal for subcontracting opportunities — the default platform for companies looking to work at the site, giving more Louisiana businesses the opportunity to be a part of this project.

To build on our commitment to local job growth and our recently announced America’s Workforce Academy program, we’re announcing $5 million in support for Louisiana Delta Community College. This funding, which is the largest gift in the history of the community college, will create scholarships to train local residents for critical data center roles in the region. All graduates from Richland Parish’s high schools, beginning with the class of 2026, will be eligible for full scholarships for any data center related trade certificate or course.

Our investment in the community cuts across industries. This year, teachers in Richland Parish, Louisiana received yearly bonus checks that were 400% higher than last year, a result of increased tax revenues caused by our data center project.

Supporting the Local Community

To date, we’ve invested more than $1 billion in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water, and wastewater systems. Beyond infrastructure, we’re investing directly in the people and organizations that make Richland Parish the community we call home.

Through direct giving and our Data Center Community Action Grants we’ve supported every public school and many youth programs in Richland Parish. By fostering creative learning environments and integrating advanced technologies — such as virtual reality, robotics, and STEM labs — we encourage hands-on exploration in K-12 classrooms:

• In March, we announced our 2026 Meta Data Center Community Action Grant recipients, which included 12 grants in Richland Parish. Recipients included every school in the Richland Parish system as well as the Richland Parish 4-H club.
• In December we made a $300,000 investment in the Richland Revitalization Board, which funds improvements to local facilities like parks, ballfields and community centers.

Other institutions we’ve directly supported since breaking ground in December of 2024 include the Northeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery, the Richland Voluntary Council on Aging, the Northeast Louisiana Children’s Museum, the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, GrowNela, Cool Kids Inc, and the Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce.

In conjunction with the Monroe and Richland Parish Chambers of Commerce, Meta has provided training to local small businesses. At no cost to the participants, Meta brings in experts on how small business owners can use social platforms to engage audiences and recruit new customers.

Since 2022, we’ve partnered with the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) to support communities near our data centers — from expanding broadband access to helping drive tech-based economic growth. We’re expanding this partnership to Northeast Louisiana, and are excited to share more details later this year.

Beyond these programs, our commitment to Richland Parish means showing up when it matters most. When Winter Storm Fern struck Richland Parish earlier this year, we quickly mobilized to support the community. Our general contractors provided housing for hundreds of Entergy linemen working around the clock to restore power. We also partnered with the Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce and Cool Kids Inc. to distribute food vouchers from local restaurants and pack more than 1,600 lunches for families in need.

Our general contracting partners are also active in the community through volunteerism activities, youth engagement, and support for local businesses and schools. For example, Turner and DPR Construction partnered with Louisiana Delta Community College to launch the first Richland Parish Workforce Development Cohort, achieving a 100% graduation rate and placing graduates into project teams. Additionally:

• Turner Construction Company engages students through career fairs, panel discussions, backpack donations, and scholarships at events including Grambling State University and Holly Ridge School.
• Mortenson supports communities across Northeast Louisiana through hands-on service, including environmental initiatives, school partnerships, and outreach with organizations like the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana and United Way of NELA.
• DPR Construction supports affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity, engages local businesses, and contributes to regional growth through the Richland and Monroe Chambers of Commerce.

Building for Sustainability — From Energy to Water

Across all of our data centers, we work closely with local utilities to plan for and meet our energy needs and ensure we pay for the energy, water, and related infrastructure we use so that other customers’ electricity and water bills don’t increase as a result of our work.

In Louisiana, we’ve been working closely with Entergy in advance of our Richland Parish Data Center coming online. Our recent agreement with Entergy will fund seven new natural gas-fueled generating plants, three grid-scale batteries, nuclear uprates, and other purchased power, and is expected to deliver approximately $2 billion in customer savings to Entergy Louisiana customers, on top of the $650 million we previously announced.

We’re also expanding our support of Entergy’s customer affordability initiatives, contributing $215 million to Entergy’s Power to Care and residential energy efficiency programs, and committing to help fund the generation of up to 2.5 GW of clean and renewable energy. Like our other data centers, we will match 100% of the Richland Parish Data Center’s energy use with clean and renewable energy, and its buildings will achieve LEED Gold certification once operational.

Additionally, we’re committed to fostering water efficiency in our data center operations and support local water restoration projects. We’ve also recently partnered with Ducks Unlimited and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation on wetland restoration in Louisiana and across the Mississippi Alluvial Valley through the Flyaway Forest program, while also investing in critical water infrastructure improvements at the Russell Sage Wildlife Management Area.

We’re proud of our work to support the Richland Parish community. As we move to expand our footprint in Richland Parish, we look forward to broadening this support.

Follow our Richland Parish Data Center journey