INDIANA: Meta Platforms has begun construction on a more than $10 billion data center campus in Lebanon, Indiana, a project the company says will be capable of delivering up to 1 gigawatt of computing capacity once operational. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp said the site is designed to support both artificial intelligence workloads and its core online services.
The campus is planned for the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Boone County, about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. State and local officials said the development will be built across several phases on a 1,500 acre site and is expected to include 13 buildings, with 10 of those designated for data center operations along with logistics, warehousing, network and administrative support functions.
Meta said the project is expected to support more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak and about 300 operational positions once fully online. The company also said it is launching a countywide workforce development program through the Boone County Career Collaborative aimed at career exploration and work based learning for students across three school districts.
Indiana officials said Meta committed to an annual community impact payment of $1.5 million to the City of Lebanon for each completed phase of what the state described as an up to six phase project. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation said the LEAP district has secured more than $23 billion in investment since 2022 and is intended to attract companies in high growth sectors.
Power, capacity and incentives
Meta’s vice president of data centers, Rachel Peterson, said the site is designed to deliver 1 gigawatt of capacity once operational and that initial facilities are expected to come online in late 2027 or early 2028. U.S. grid operators typically equate 1 gigawatt of power to roughly the electricity needs of about 800,000 homes, underscoring the scale of the planned build.
Peterson said Meta has agreements with local utility providers in place and will cover the costs for energy used by the data center, including related energy infrastructure upgrades. Indiana officials said the state committed a 35 year term data center sales tax exemption tied to minimum investment thresholds, with additional five year extensions available for further eligible capital investment, up to a total of 50 years, and that the incentives are structured as performance based.
Sustainability and local infrastructure
Meta said it will match 100% of the new data center’s energy use with clean energy and that the campus is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification once operational. The company said the facility will use a water efficient closed loop, liquid cooled system that recirculates the same water and is designed to use zero water for a majority of the year.
Meta said it aims to restore 100% of the water it consumes in Lebanon to local watersheds and will support local environmental projects, including irrigation technology in Indiana’s Upper Wabash River Basin and stream work along Deer Creek. Meta also said it plans to invest more than $120 million toward water infrastructure in Lebanon, as well as other public infrastructure improvements such as roads, transmission lines and utility upgrades, and will provide $1 million each year for 20 years to a local fund that helps residents with energy bills.
The Lebanon campus is Meta’s second major data center project in Indiana, joining its Jeffersonville facility, which state officials have described as an $800 million, 700,000 square foot data center that is nearing completion. Meta has positioned the Indiana projects as part of its U.S. data center footprint supporting online services and AI related computing needs.
Meta said previously that it plans to invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, including data centers. The Indiana campus, with its planned multi phase construction and 1 gigawatt design, represents one of the company’s largest infrastructure investments to date, according to statements from Meta and Indiana officials. – By Content Syndication Services.