RICHLAND PARISH, La. — Meta announced Monday that it is expanding its Richland Parish, Louisiana, data center to 5GW of compute capacity in a town that’s already seeing big returns for teachers, local businesses, and students.
The data center expansion is an investment of more than $50 billion in the Richland Parish region — one of the largest investments in AI infrastructure in the world, build in America — supporting infrastructure projects, workforce development programs, and an energy agreement that is expected to save Entergy Louisiana customers more that $2 billion over 20 years, on top of the $650 million in savings for customers from the first agreement.
Louisiana Delta Community College is receiving a $5 million donation from Meta to create scholarships to train local residents for critical data center jobs. All graduates from Richland Parish’s high schools, beginning with the class of 2026, will be eligible for full scholarships for any data center-related trade certificate or course.
Meta has also provided training to local small businesses, and invests in programs and partnerships that connect businesses and workers to opportunities at the site — from subcontracting pipelines to workforce development opportunities with local colleges and universities. We’ve also supported funding for new equipment for the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Holly Ridge Fire Protection District.
Meta pays the full costs of the energy, water, and related infrastructure the data center uses so consumers aren’t paying the cost. Meta’s recent agreement with Entergy will fund seven new natural gas-fueled generating plants, three grid-scale batteries, nuclear uprates, and other purchased power.
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