RICHLAND PARISH, Louisiana: Meta says it is expanding its Hyperion data center in Louisiana to five gigawatts of compute capacity, increasing its investment in the project to more than US$50 billion as it continues to expand infrastructure to support artificial intelligence.

The Hyperion facility in Richland Parish was previously expected to provide more than two gigawatts of compute capacity for training large language models, the technology behind AI tools such as ChatGPT.

The announcement comes as environmental and consumer groups continue to raise concerns about the growing energy demands of large AI data centers.

Earlier this year, a request by U.S. environmental law group Earthjustice to investigate the financing of Meta's Louisiana project was denied. Earthjustice had argued that the financing arrangement could shift project costs onto utility customers if Meta were to abandon the project before the utility recovered its investment.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last year that the data center project would cost $50 billion.

Meta said local Louisiana businesses have received more than $1.6 billion in contracts since construction began in December 2024.

As part of the expansion, the company said it plans to invest more than $1 billion in local infrastructure, including roads, water systems and wastewater facilities.

Meta also said teachers in Richland Parish recently received annual bonuses of up to $50,000, representing a 400 percent increase from the previous year, supported by higher tax revenues generated by the project.

Like other major technology companies, Meta has been investing heavily in AI infrastructure and computing capacity as demand continues to outpace supply.

The company has pledged to invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years.

Meta currently has 32 data centers operating or under construction worldwide, including 28 in the United States.