Richland Parish Data Center Deal Doubles Meta’s Louisiana Investment

RICHLAND PARISH, La. — Meta is more than doubling the size of its Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, pushing the project’s total cost from $10 billion to $50 billion and making it one of the largest artificial intelligence facilities in the world.

Gov. Jeff Landry and other state leaders praised the expansion Monday, calling it a project Louisiana has waited generations for. The Facebook parent company began construction on Hyperion last year and now plans to build out the site to more than 3,200 acres, roughly five square miles, with enough computing capacity to draw 5 gigawatts of power.

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What the Expansion Means for Richland Parish

The added scale will push construction jobs at the site to about 7,500, a 50% increase over what was originally announced. Permanent jobs will double to 1,000 once both phases of the project are fully operational, a milestone the company expects to hit by 2036.

Richland Parish has just 20,000 residents and ranks among the poorest parishes in Louisiana. Meta has committed $1 billion to upgrade roads, water and wastewater systems there as construction crews and an influx of workers strain local infrastructure. The company is also putting $5 million toward Louisiana Delta Community College to train residents for data center jobs, along with a $250,000 donation to a New Orleans nonprofit that provides technical training to high school students.

Ezra Acayan, Getty Images

Because of increased tax revenue tied to the project, Richland Parish teachers recently received bonuses of up to $50,000, and other school employees got $17,000 supplements. Richland Parish Schools Superintendent Sheldon Jones said the partnership has made a tangible difference in classrooms and is strengthening the educational experience for students in the district.

The Power Question

Supplying Hyperion’s expanded footprint will require a major buildout from Entergy, which filed applications in March with the Public Service Commission to construct seven additional natural gas power plants along with solar farms and battery storage. Combined with the plants already planned, the new generation capacity would add 4.5 gigawatts, nearly five times what it takes to power New Orleans on a hot day.

Meta has agreed to pay for the construction of all 10 new Entergy power plants tied to the project and says it will fund 2.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy, 240 miles of transmission lines and battery storage systems. Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said the company’s priority is making sure it pays for what it uses while investing in the grid in a way that keeps energy costs down for other customers.

Entergy

Consumer advocacy groups have raised concerns that the enormous electricity demand from hyperscale data centers like Hyperion could push up power costs for everyday Louisiana ratepayers. Landry said in June he directed the state’s economic development agency to draft new rules governing future data center projects to guard against that risk.

Tax Breaks Tied to Job Creation

Meta’s expanded investment comes with a full slate of tax breaks. The company will be exempt from state and local sales taxes on most data center costs, including servers, chillers, electrical infrastructure, and construction materials tied to the new phase. State officials have not said how much that exemption is worth.

Meta also negotiated a new payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Richland Parish officials for the project’s second phase. Meta becomes eligible for a 60% property tax break by 2032 if it creates 300 permanent jobs paying at least 150% of the state’s average salary, or roughly $93,000. That incentive climbs to an 80% reduction once the company reaches 500 permanent jobs.

Why It Matters Beyond Richland Parish

Most Louisiana officials have welcomed data centers as a new industry that could help reverse decades of population decline and slow economic growth in rural parishes. Landry pointed to the state’s partnership with Meta and Entergy as the model he wants applied to future data center deals rather than a one-time exception.

Reports also indicate Meta bought roughly 1,400 acres of corn and soybean fields just west of the Hyperion site earlier this year, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg first disclosed the possibility of a larger facility last summer, an announcement President Donald Trump later promoted on social media. Both signaled the expansion was coming well before Monday’s formal announcement.

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