President Trump announced during a cabinet meeting that tech company Meta Platforms Inc. plans to invest $50 billion to build a super data center in rural Louisiana. The news was revealed by Trump on Tuesday, August 26.
“I was thinking, ‘What kind of factory are they talking about?’ when they mentioned investing $50 billion to build a factory,” Trump said, holding up a printed A4 paper. It is reported that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided him with a conceptual design of the factory, with a blue building resembling an old-fashioned telephone, but surprisingly as big as Manhattan.
To show the scale, the chart uses Manhattan as a reference for comparison with the data center’s size. “When you see it, you will understand why it costs $50 billion,” the President said.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the White House’s data center remarks, stating that the data center is called “Hyperion.” “Hyperion” is the title of a 1989 American science fiction novel.
Meta is investing billions of dollars to become a key player in the artificial intelligence race. The company publicly stated that its investment in the data center will exceed $10 billion.
Trump mentioned that American companies are now able to build large data centers due to the current government allowing them to construct their own power facilities.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Meta has selected Pacific Investment Management Co. and Blue Owl Capital Inc. to lead a $29 billion financing for the Louisiana data center. This financing is the largest to date associated with a specific artificial intelligence data center.