Meta has broken ground on its latest data center project in the U.S., which marks a further expansion of the company’s artificial intelligence processing capacity, and another step in its $600 billion commitment to developing U.S. infrastructure projects over the next three years.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based data center will be the company’s 28th in the U.S., its 32nd globally, and the first in the state. It will provide support for Meta’s expanding AI workloads, in order to power the next stage of its Superintelligence push.
Indeed, these days, Meta is almost as much a data center infrastructure company as a social media business. Meta is pushing to build its data infrastructure as quickly as it can, in order to accelerate its AI development. The company is also looking to get as much done as possible while U.S. President Donald Trump is in office, in order to take advantage of Trump’s support for the expansion of U.S. business interests.
In the White House’s AI action plan, which was published in July 2025, the government outlined the need to support U.S. businesses in order to ensure the nation’s “global dominance in artificial intelligence.” The plan also set out specific measures to remove “red tape and onerous regulation.”
That has seemingly helped accelerate Meta’s broader AI development push, though Meta also knows that this more open approach may not last into the next administration. As such, Meta’s is looking to get as many data centers up and running as possible over the next three years.
At the same time, the company has committed to ensuring water and electricity support for the regions in which it’s building. Meta has also pledged support for local community projects in an effort to play a positive role in regional economies.
As per Meta: “Once completed, our Tulsa facility will represent an investment of more than $1 billion in the region. We anticipate over 1,000 construction workers will be onsite at the peak of construction, and once complete, the data center will support approximately 100 operational jobs. We’re also investing more than $25 million in local infrastructure improvements, including roads and water infrastructure.”
Meta has also committed to the White House’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” which aims to protect people in the U.S. from negative impacts related to these developments.
In Tulsa specifically, Meta’s partnering with Tulsa Community College to support a new, cross-institutional workforce development program and learning lab for digital infrastructure careers.
“We anticipate this partnership will create a pipeline of 200+ graduates annually in technical trades, including cooling simulation, fiber optics, and structured cabling, along with AI and data analytics programming,” Meta said.
The community contributions could end up being a major benefit for the broader U.S. economy, though how much benefit these data centers provide within these regions, versus impact, remains to be seen.
As reported by The Atlantic, some data centers have ended up having major negative effects on local communities. While Meta is pledging to limit these detrimental impacts, the eventual outcome remains to be seen.
Either way, this new data center is another step in Meta’s massive AI investment, which could help to power the next stage of its development.
