Meta is constructing huge gigawatt data centers, investing billions in AI

Meta plans massive gigawatt data centers to boost AI power, challenging xAI.

: Meta is heavily investing in artificial intelligence infrastructure, planning to build superclusters with gigawatt capacity starting in Ohio with Prometheus and expanding with Hyperion in Louisiana by 2027. This move puts Meta in direct competition with xAI, led by Elon Musk, who is developing a similar gigawatt supercluster in Memphis without proper air permits, raising environmental concerns. Both Meta and xAI's projects involve significant environmental trade-offs, largely due to the construction of on-site natural gas plants to meet their energy demands. These development efforts reflect a broader AI arms race among tech companies, each striving to outpace their rivals in compute capabilities.

Meta is constructing massive gigawatt data centers to enhance its AI capabilities. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is building several multi-gigawatt superclusters, with the first, named Prometheus, going online in 2026 in Ohio. Another cluster, Hyperion, is underway in Louisiana, aiming for completion in 2027. These superclusters are designed to hold vast networks of GPUs or TPUs necessary for training AI models, which require significant compute power. Unlike smaller, megawatt-scale clusters, Meta's gigawatt approach promises to significantly boost its AI processing capabilities.

Meta's strategic move places it in direct competition with Elon Musk's xAI, which is racing to build a similar gigawatt-capacity supercluster named Colossus 2 in Memphis, Tennessee. Musk has publicly claimed this project would be the first gigawatt AI training supercluster. Both ventures face environmental challenges. Musk's project, for instance, runs turbines without necessary air permits, capable of emitting significant nitrogen oxides, posing environmental risks.

On the environmental front, Meta's project includes constructing two separate 200MW natural gas plants. Although natural gas plants are cleaner than coal, they still emit harmful pollutants, including nitrogen oxides. These concerns are heightened by industry pressures and regulatory changes under the Trump administration, which eased restrictions on fossil fuel use for AI developments.

The AI industry is seeing an unprecedented scale of investments as companies like Meta and xAI race to dominate AI research and application fields. Earlier in 2025, Zuckerberg committed to compete with AI leaders like OpenAI by investing substantial resources into developing cutting-edge AI technologies. However, these efforts have raised criticisms regarding the environmental and societal impacts on surrounding communities.

In conclusion, Meta's and xAI's mega-projects are symbolic of a larger AI arms race, with each entity striving for superior technological capabilities while balancing environmental responsibilities. As both companies push forward with their ambitious plans, the outcome may reshape the landscape of artificial intelligence research and capabilities.

Sources: Gizmodo, Wired, NPR, The Guardian

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