In a major economic development victory, Facebook parent Meta will build its largest-ever data center on a tract of farmland in northeast Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Wednesday, calling the project "transformational" in positioning the state as a site for the infrastructure powering the artificial intelligence boom.
The $10 billion project, one of the largest private investments in the state's history, will construct a 4-million-square-foot facility — about the size of 70 football fields — on 2,250 acres outside Holly Ridge.
In a news conference at the Rayville Civic Center in Richland Parish, Landry told the gathered crowd of local officials, press and representatives from Meta that the project would deliver a critical boost to the local economy while also putting Louisiana on the map as Meta and other global tech companies seek out places for new investments.
"Today it all changes," said Landry to rounds of applause as he detailed the immense scope of the project. "We are positioning the state as a leader in the world of technology."
The investment offered a political win for Landry, who has vowed to bring in new businesses and jobs to the state. During the news conference, he was joined by
Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan B. Bourgeois, Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and Meta Director of Data Center Strategy Kevin Janda, who said initial work on the site had already started.
"It will bring over 500 operational jobs," said Janda, "and over 5,000 construction jobs."
Josh Fleig, LED's Chief Innovation Officer said Meta has committed "to hire as many local folks as they possibly can," a point that was reiterated by Janda.
The direct jobs created, says Fleig, will include workers inside the data center that will manage the physical equipment, "everything from infrastructure that supplies electricity or water, to those to the equipment, or to the equipment itself, in terms of refresh, replace, monitor, monitoring the network as well."
He says there will also be software-type positions, as well as electrical, plumbing and facility management.
In addition to the $10 billion spent on the data center, the project also includes three new Entergy power plants at a cost of $3.2 billion. These new plants will feed the facility the massive amounts of electricity it will need to function.
Two of the natural gas-powered plants are planned for Richland Parish; the third north of Baton Rouge. In its PSC filings, Entergy says it plans to include generation from nuclear, wind and hydrogen co-firing at the new plants which are projected to produce a combined 3,762 megawatts of power, or enough to power some 1.6 million homes.
Multinational companies looking to be leaders in AI, such as Microsoft, Apple, Meta and others, are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to construct these processing hubs across the U.S. and overseas. But not every area has the power available to host them.
Microsoft recently signed a power purchase agreement for its Pennsylvania data centers that was large enough to justify reopening the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
Why the need for so much power?
High performance graphics processing units, which are used to do the complex computations needed for AI, gulp electricity, as do the computer servers they are housed in. As the AI models “learn” and become more sophisticated, their energy consumption increases. There is also no downtime at an AI facility, which needs huge cooling units to maintain optimal temperatures.
The PSC is fast-tracking Entergy’s proposal. At its meeting on Nov. 18, the commission voted to hire an outside law firm and consultant group in order to have the three new plants reviewed by Oct. 25, 2025.
"The Public Service Commission now holds the key to ensuring that the power we need to provide these types of projects, stays efficient and cost-effective," said Landry. "So today is the day to celebrate."