Meta’s $27 billion AI data center is transforming rural Louisiana
Meta’s $27 billion AI data center is transforming rural Louisiana
https://www.fox8live.com/2026/05/12/metas-27-billion-ai-data-center-is-transforming-rural-louisiana/
Publish Date: 2026-05-12 17:24:00
Source Domain: www.fox8live.com
RAYVILLE, La. (WVUE) – A rural Louisiana parish known for farming, small towns and quiet roads is now at the center of one of the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure projects in the world.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is building a massive data center in Holly Ridge, a Richland Parish community about 260 miles northwest of New Orleans. The project is expected to cost $27 billion and help power Meta’s artificial intelligence ambitions.
Many people born and raised in towns like Rayville, Dunn, and Holly Ridge are used to a slower pace of life.
“I’m not for change. I don’t change my furniture around or nothing. I stay just like it is,” said 81-year-old Joyce Piercy.
“We’ve been a simple farming community. It’s a great place to raise your kids. It’s quiet,” said Emmett “Lee” Brown.
You won’t find much quiet in certain parts of Richland Parish anymore.
Throughout the rural parish in northern Louisiana, there seem to be construction zones along all the major roads. Entergy Louisiana is building power infrastructure to support the data center, including two gas-fired power plants at its Franklin Farms Power Station project in Holly Ridge.
“This is the biggest customer project that Entergy Louisiana has ever undertaken,” said Troy Heytens, vice president of hyper scale execution at Entergy Louisiana. “The only thing that is a similar scale that we’ve done in the past is building brand new nuclear power plants.”
Heytens said the power plant is expected to be online by the end of 2028. Meta’s Hyperion data center is expected to be operational by 2030.
“This site that we’re on in Richland Parish is about 5-6 miles long and a mile wide, including both the Entergy facility as well as the data center that’s just south of us,” Heytens said.
Meta announced it will build a 4 million square foot data center in Richland Parish.(Source: Meta)
Meta did not allow Fox 8 access to its construction site. Entergy…
