Meta Invests $1.5 Billion in Texas AI Data Centre for 2028 Launch

Key Takeaways

• Meta invests $1.5 billion in a new AI data centre in El Paso, Texas
• The facility, Meta’s 29th globally, is scheduled to become operational in 2028
• Expected to create 100 permanent jobs and employ over 1,800 construction workers at peak
• Will be powered entirely by renewable energy and feature advanced water conservation systems

Meta Platforms has announced a major $1.5 billion investment to build an artificial intelligence data centre in El Paso, Texas. This marks the company’s 29th global data facility and its third in Texas, scheduled to launch in 2028.

Massive Scale and Industry Context

The El Paso data centre can scale to a 1-gigawatt capacity, generating enough energy to power a city the size of San Francisco for a day. This positions it among the largest planned data centre campuses in the United States.

This development occurs amid intense competition among hyperscale cloud providers. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are projected to spend over $360 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025 alone, with data centres receiving the bulk of this investment.

Economic Impact and Site Selection

The new facility is expected to create approximately 100 permanent jobs once operational, with over 1,800 construction workers needed during peak building phases. Meta selected El Paso due to its robust electrical grid and skilled workforce.

With this latest commitment, Meta’s total investment in Texas exceeds $10 billion, supporting more than 2,500 employees across the state. The company is funding the current phase entirely with its own capital.

Industry Leadership and Development Process

Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, which facilitated the project, told Reuters: “The fastest gazelle finds their place, others follow, and Meta is the fastest gazelle in the industry, as far as I’m concerned. We’ve had others look at the region, other data centres, and we expect there probably to be others that will want to follow.”

The project originated from a referral by Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office approximately four years ago. El Paso secured the investment through a package of tax incentives and other attractive measures.

Sustainability Commitments

Meta confirmed the data centre will operate on 100% renewable energy. The facility will employ a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system that continuously recycles water.

Notably, the company pledged to restore twice the water consumed by the data centre to local watersheds. This exceeds Meta’s 2030 “water-positive” goal of restoring more water than it consumes.