Meta's Louisiana AI data center cost escalated from $10 billion to $50 billion in under two years.

Meta's sprawling AI data center in rural Louisiana has received a massive cash infusion, but the expansion is dividing the community.

The company announced Monday that its Hyperion supercluster in Richland Parish will expand to a 5-gigawatt facility costing more than $50 billion, making it Meta's largest data center and one of the world's biggest AI infrastructure projects. The site was initially projected to deliver more than 2 gigawatts of compute capacity—the power needed to train large language models like those behind ChatGPT. When construction began in 2024, the price tag was $10 billion. The cost has now quintupled in less than two years, driven largely by abundant private capital and Louisiana's decision to forgo tax revenue to secure the deal. In late 2024, Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation exempting data centers built before 2029 from sales tax for 20 years.

The tax concessions appear not to concern Landry. In Monday's statement, he noted that since the deal was struck, the state has "secured more than $150 billion in new investment by creating an environment where companies can move quickly and build at scale."

Some local business owners are equally enthusiastic. Scott Holmes, owner of Mayo Tours, said the project has transformed his charter bus company: "We've been in the charter bus business for 29 years, but nothing compares to what Meta's project has meant for us. We went from 40 coaches to 102, and most of our drivers onsite are now earning over $80,000 a year in a region where the median income is $42,000."

Yet not all residents welcome the facility. Hyperion sits in a parish of roughly 20,000 people, among Louisiana's poorest, and the expansion has reignited questions about who bears the ultimate costs of a project at this scale. Construction has already brought heavier traffic, rising rents, and eviction threats as thousands of workers flood the area. Many residents feel key decisions were made before they grasped the project's scope, and that it has since grown far larger than initially promised.

Erika James, a 34-year-old mother of two who grew up in Richland Parish and now lives in a mobile home park in nearby Monroe, expressed her frustration: "Meanwhile, there is literally a sign outside welcoming Meta workers while local families are left wondering where they're supposed to go. We are now having to entertain the idea of leaving the area completely. There is nowhere to go if you can't pay triple prices."

Some state officials involved in the deal have been equally candid about the trade-offs. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois told the Times-Picayune that Meta was explicit from the start: "It was 'If you don't have this, we will not consider your state.'" Mike Busada, a Shreveport attorney who helped negotiate the deal, was similarly blunt: "We're only giving this to get them here. We don't want to give them a dollar more than we have to."

Meta is not entirely tax-exempt. While it avoids state and local sales tax on equipment—servers, chillers, and electrical infrastructure comprising most of its spending—it still pays a 1% local sales tax on purchases. That seemingly modest figure has had meaningful impact. An ordinance funnels the 1% revenue into school employee bonuses, which have topped $50,000 for some teachers. The average teacher salary in Louisiana is $56,785, ranking 49th nationally according to National Education Association data. Local officials acknowledge, however, that this windfall is temporary. "Sales tax at that level may be somewhat temporary," Scott Franklin, a director at the Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce, told The Wall Street Journal, noting it will likely shrink once construction concludes.

Meta argues the project extends beyond infrastructure. Rachel Peterson, vice president of data centers at Meta, stated: "The people, workforce and partnership we've found in Louisiana have enabled this project to be a cornerstone of our global infrastructure. With more than $1.6 billion already contracted with local companies and thousands of jobs being supported, we're delivering real economic impact alongside the AI infrastructure that will power the future."

The project's power demands present another major concern. To supply Hyperion's massive electricity needs, utility Entergy is constructing 10 new plants and 240 miles of transmission lines—all funded by Meta, which has also committed to finance up to 2.5 gigawatts of renewable energy and signed what Entergy describes as a "Ratepayer Protection Pledge." Nonetheless, consumer advocates worry the project's enormous demand could raise rates for other grid users. In January, environmental law group Earthjustice—representing the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists—urged Louisiana regulators to investigate Meta's financing arrangement with Blue Owl Capital, under which Meta sold roughly 80% of the data center to a venture debt firm.

Paul Arbaje, energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned: "Louisiana ratepayers may have even less protection from the costs of this massive data center than they had just several months ago, which were already severely lacking. The Commission must look further into Meta's new financing structure to make sure that the bag Entergy's customers are already holding hasn't ballooned out of control." The Louisiana Public Service Commission declined to open the probe in February.

Susan Stevens Miller, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said the decision was troubling: "By dismissing this motion, the [Louisiana Public Service Commission] is giving the green light to more tech companies to use this kind of financial maneuvering to maximize profits while evading public accountability."

Governor Landry has moved to address the risk. In June, he directed his economic development agency to draft new rules intended to shield consumers from bearing the cost of new power plants.

The tensions unfolding in Richland Parish reflect a national debate. As Meta races ahead with its multi-hundred-billion-dollar AI expansion, rivals Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are pursuing identical tax breaks and energy deals from states competing for a share of the AI boom. Amazon alone has committed $12 billion to data centers in northwest Louisiana.

Elsewhere, residents are equally wary. A Gallup poll conducted in March found that seven in 10 Americans oppose AI data center construction in their community—a higher share than those opposing nuclear power plants. Opponents cite strain on resources like water and energy, as well as higher utility bills. These concerns are already driving policy shifts. In April, Maine became the first state to bar large-scale data center development, and a Wisconsin city approved a referendum giving voters greater say over major tax-funded projects tied to a local data center campus.