Meta Breaks Ground on $10 Billion Indiana Data Center to Expand AI Capacity

Feb 11 (GeokHub) - Meta announced Wednesday that it has begun construction on a $10 billion data center in Indiana as the company accelerates efforts to expand computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

The new facility, located in Lebanon, Indiana, is expected to deliver 1 gigawatt of power capacity once fully operational — roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of about 800,000 U.S. homes, according to industry estimates.

The project is scheduled to come online between late 2027 and early 2028.

AI Infrastructure Race Intensifies

The investment reflects intensifying competition among major technology companies racing to build increasingly large data centers to support AI model training and deployment. Executives across the industry have described the AI expansion as a transformative moment requiring unprecedented computing power.

Meta previously outlined plans to invest heavily in U.S. infrastructure over the next three years, with data centers forming a core component of that strategy.

The company has also announced large-scale projects in Louisiana and Texas, underscoring its aggressive build-out of high-capacity facilities nationwide.

Energy and Regulatory Scrutiny

As data center expansion accelerates, concerns have grown among environmental organizations and consumer advocates about the impact on power grids and electricity prices.

Meta said it has agreements in place with local utilities to secure energy supply for the Indiana project and that it will fund necessary infrastructure upgrades related to the development. The company stated it is covering the full $10 billion investment upfront.

Regulatory scrutiny has increased in recent months over how such large-scale facilities are financed and whether infrastructure costs could ultimately affect residential and business customers.

Long-Term Strategy

The Indiana facility represents part of Meta’s broader push to secure long-term computing capacity amid rising demand for AI-powered services across its platforms.

As AI adoption expands globally, the competition to control energy resources, land, and grid access is becoming a defining factor in the technology sector’s next phase of growth.