Meta's biggest AI bet isn't a model. It's a 5 GW construction site in rural northeast Louisiana, where the company now says it will invest more than $50 billion, five times the $10 billion it announced in December 2024.
That site is Meta Hyperion. It's also the clearest test yet of a different way to power an AI campus: instead of on-site turbines like xAI's Colossus 2 or a partner-led build like OpenAI's Stargate, Meta is paying a regulated utility, Entergy Louisiana, to build up to ten gas plants and hundreds of miles of transmission for one customer.
This full guide covers what Meta Hyperion is, the timeline from 2024 to 2032, the Entergy power deal, the Blue Owl financing, how it relates to the Prometheus cluster in Ohio, the community and ratepayer fight, and the honest limits, all as of October 28, 2026.
Last updated: October 28, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Meta Hyperion is Meta's 5 GW AI campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana, now budgeted at more than $50 billion and the largest site in Meta's fleet.
- Meta expects 2 GW by 2030 and the full 5 GW by around 2032, according to a company spokesperson.
- Entergy Louisiana has approval for three gas plants and is seeking seven more totaling over 5,200 MW, all paid for by Meta under a 20-year deal.
- A Blue Owl joint venture owns 80% of the campus and Meta 20%, funding roughly $27 billion of the first-phase development.
- Honest limit: the seven-plant expansion is still before regulators and in court, and critics estimate about $3.4 billion of plant costs could fall to other customers.
What is Meta Hyperion?
Meta Hyperion is the name of Meta's largest AI training cluster and the data center campus built to house it, officially the Richland Parish Data Center in northeast Louisiana. Meta describes the site as an AI-optimized data center that will house Hyperion, its largest multi-gigawatt AI training cluster.
The campus sits on the former Franklin Farm megasite between Rayville and Delhi, near the community of Holly Ridge. Louisiana Economic Development's original release put it on a 2,250-acre site about 30 miles east of Monroe, with a building that stretches more than a mile from front to back.
Strictly, Hyperion is the cluster and the Richland Parish Data Center is the campus. Most coverage uses Hyperion for both, and so does this guide.
Mark Zuckerberg first used the name in July 2025, when he said Meta was building Hyperion, "which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years", alongside a 1 GW-class cluster called Prometheus in Ohio.
Meta Hyperion by the numbers
The headline figures have changed a lot in two years. The table below separates the original plan from the July 2026 expansion, using only Meta, Louisiana Economic Development and Entergy figures.
| Item | December 2024 plan | July 2026 expansion |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | More than $10 billion | More than $50 billion |
| Compute capacity | Not stated in GW | 5 GW |
| Building footprint | 4 million sq ft | Not updated |
| Site | 2,250-acre Franklin Farm megasite | Expanded footprint, adjacent land |
| Peak construction jobs | More than 5,000 | More than 7,500 |
| Operational jobs | 500 or more | 1,000 |
| Local infrastructure | More than $200 million | More than $1 billion |
| Renewables commitment | At least 1,500 MW | Up to 2.5 GW more |
| Utility customer benefit | $650 million | $2.65 billion over 20 years |
Source: Meta, Hello Louisiana (Dec 2024); Louisiana Economic Development; Meta, Deepening our investment (Jul 2026); Entergy Louisiana (Mar 2026).
Meta Hyperion timeline, 2024 to 2032
- October 30, 2024: Entergy Louisiana files at the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) for generation and transmission to serve a large new customer in north Louisiana, later confirmed as Meta's subsidiary Laidley LLC.
- December 4, 2024: Meta and Louisiana announce a $10 billion, 4 million square foot data center, with site work starting that month.
- July 14, 2025: Zuckerberg says Meta will invest "hundreds of billions of dollars into compute" and names Prometheus and Hyperion.
- August 20, 2025: The LPSC approves three new combined-cycle gas plants by a 4 to 1 vote.
- October 21, 2025: Meta forms the Hyperion joint venture with Blue Owl funds, covering about $27 billion of development costs.
- March 27, 2026: Entergy announces a second Meta agreement for seven more gas plants and about 240 miles of 500 kV lines.
- July 13, 2026: Meta expands the campus to 5 GW and more than $50 billion.
- Late 2028 to end of 2029: The first three gas plants are due online, two in Richland Parish in late 2028 and one at Waterford by the end of 2029.
- 2030 and around 2032: Meta targets 2 GW in 2030 and 5 GW around 2032.
The gap between the plant dates and the GW targets is the first thing to notice. Hyperion's own generation doesn't arrive until late 2028, so any earlier capacity would have to run on existing Entergy grid supply.
How Meta Hyperion is powered: Entergy's gas plants
Hyperion's power story has two phases, and they sit in two separate LPSC dockets.
Phase 1: three plants, already approved
In August 2025 the LPSC let Entergy Louisiana build three combined-cycle combustion turbine plants: two in Richland Parish, expected in late 2028, and a third at Entergy's existing Waterford site in St. Charles Parish, expected by the end of 2029. The approval also allowed new transmission and up to 1,500 megawatts of solar through an expedited process.
The vote was 4 to 1. Commissioner Davante Lewis, the lone no, said there were many things he couldn't verify about the deal's costs and benefits. Local coverage put the facility's need at around 2,500 megawatts at the time.
Phase 2: seven more plants, still pending
The March 2026 agreement is far larger. Entergy plans seven new natural gas combined-cycle plants totaling more than 5,200 megawatts, with capability for future carbon capture and hydrogen co-firing. It adds about 240 miles of 500 kV transmission, battery storage at three locations, nuclear uprates and up to 2,500 megawatts of Meta-funded solar.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, writing in The Lens, all ten plants would be 754 MW each, about 7.54 GW in total, "more than the average demand of New York City." That's a utility-scale generation fleet built for one campus.
| Resource | Phase 1 (Laidley) | Phase 2 (Evest) |
|---|---|---|
| Gas plants | 3 combined-cycle units | 7 combined-cycle units |
| Gas capacity | About 2.26 GW (3 x 754 MW) | More than 5,200 MW |
| Locations | Richland Parish (2), Waterford (1) | Richland Parish and Pointe Coupee Parish |
| Online dates | Late 2028 to end of 2029 | Not yet certified |
| Solar | Up to 1,500 MW | Up to 2,500 MW more |
| Transmission | New lines incl. Sarepta to Mount Olive | About 240 miles of 500 kV |
| Regulatory status | Approved August 2025 | LPSC vote scheduled December 2026 |
Source: Entergy Louisiana, August 2025; Entergy Louisiana, March 2026; unit size from UCS in The Lens. Phase 1 total is Inside Deep Tech's arithmetic from the 754 MW unit size.
Why utility plants and not on-site generation? Entergy's model keeps the new plants on the regulated grid, serving the whole system. That makes Hyperion the opposite of the behind-the-meter approach many AI campuses use to skip interconnection queues.
Who pays for Hyperion's power
Meta and Entergy both say Meta pays its full cost of service. Meta's own wording is that it "pays the full costs of the energy, water, and related infrastructure" the campus uses.
Entergy says the two agreements will deliver about $2.65 billion in total customer benefits, including roughly $2 billion over 20 years from the 2026 deal. Meta is also putting $120 million into Entergy's Power to Care program and $140 million into energy efficiency for vulnerable customers.
Critics don't buy the full-cost claim. UCS says Entergy estimates the roughly $13.6 billion in new generation capital costs would be about 75% paid down at the end of Meta's 20-year contract, leaving about $3.4 billion for other customers. UCS also puts the initial price tag of the proposed power infrastructure at more than $15 billion.
Both can be true. Meta can pay every dollar during the contract while the plants outlive it. The question is who carries a 40-year asset after a 20-year customer.
The Blue Owl joint venture: how Meta financed Hyperion
In October 2025 Meta moved Hyperion's first phase into a joint venture with funds managed by Blue Owl Capital. The deal terms come straight from Meta's announcement:
- Ownership: Blue Owl funds own 80% of the joint venture and Meta 20%.
- Budget: the partners fund their share of about $27 billion in total development costs for buildings and long-lived power, cooling and connectivity infrastructure.
- Cash: Blue Owl funds contributed about $7 billion in cash, and Meta received a one-time distribution of about $3 billion.
- Lease: Meta leases the finished campus on four-year initial terms with options to extend, and provides a residual value guarantee for the first 16 years.
- Debt: part of Blue Owl's capital came from bonds sold to PIMCO and other investors. IFR's awards coverage lists it as a $27.3 billion, 23.6-year bond issued by Beignet Investor.
Here's why the structure matters. Meta keeps operating control and gets the campus without carrying the full construction cost on its own balance sheet, while Blue Owl's investors take a long-dated bet on Meta renewing its leases.
The July 2026 expansion changes the math. CNBC noted that the more than $50 billion total is higher than the $27 billion figure from October, and that Meta didn't announce a financial partner for the expansion. Who funds the second phase is still public-unknown.
It also helps explain Meta's spending curve. Meta guides to 2026 capital expenditures of $130 to $145 billion, and its free cash flow fell to $784 million in the second quarter. Off-balance-sheet partners like Blue Owl are how a campus like Hyperion fits beside that budget.
What Hyperion will train: Meta Superintelligence Labs and the GPUs
Hyperion exists to give Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) more compute than any rival lab per researcher. Zuckerberg wrote that MSL "will have industry-leading levels of compute and by far the greatest compute per researcher".
Meta hasn't published a Hyperion GPU count, rack design or chip mix. What it has published is the template. Meta's engineering team says Hyperion is being designed from the ground up with insights from Prometheus, with closed-loop liquid cooling, full grid connectivity through Entergy and next-generation network designs.
That points to the racks Prometheus already runs. Meta's Ohio cluster uses NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 (Catalina) and GB300 NVL72 (Clemente) systems, with a Vera Rubin NVL72 platform called San Miguel at over 170 kW per rack arriving next. At that density, liquid cooling isn't optional; see Inside Deep Tech's data center liquid cooling full guide.
Hyperion vs Prometheus: Meta's two superclusters
Prometheus in New Albany, Ohio is Hyperion's older sibling, and it's the only one running today. Meta says its first phase is complete and was used to train the Muse family of models, and that it now holds hundreds of thousands of GPUs and will reach roughly 1 million at full scale.
| Item | Prometheus (Ohio) | Hyperion (Louisiana) |
|---|---|---|
| Scale target | Gigawatt-scale | 5 GW |
| Status | First phase live | Under construction |
| GPUs | Hundreds of thousands; ~1 million planned | Not disclosed |
| Hardware | GB200, GB300, Vera Rubin next | Not disclosed |
| Buildings | Mixed: legacy, AI-optimized, rapid-deployment | Purpose-built campus |
| Power | Local utilities plus energy partners | Entergy grid plus dedicated gas plants |
| Cooling | Air-assisted and facility liquid cooling | Closed-loop liquid cooling |
Source: Meta Engineering, Inside Prometheus; DCD; Meta, July 2026.
Prometheus also shows what a gigawatt cluster does to a grid. Meta says synchronized training causes power swings of 30 to 40% within the cluster, and starting or stopping a large job can move tens of megawatts in seconds. At 5 GW, Entergy has to plan for that behavior at a scale no utility has handled.
Prometheus also needed a full year of reliability work. Meta reports a 99% reduction in interruptions from its mid-2025 peak. Hyperion should start further up that curve, but it will still be the largest single Meta cluster ever brought up.
How Hyperion compares with Stargate and Colossus 2
The three U.S. gigawatt AI campuses took three different routes to power and money.
| Item | Meta Hyperion | OpenAI Stargate Abilene | xAI Colossus 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Richland Parish, Louisiana | Abilene, Texas | Memphis, Tennessee and Southaven, Mississippi |
| Power model | Regulated utility builds gas plants | Grid power via Lancium site development | Behind-the-meter gas turbines plus Megapacks |
| Ownership | Blue Owl JV 80%, Meta 20% | Oracle and Crusoe build; OpenAI anchor tenant | SpaceX, which acquired xAI in 2026 |
| Main public record | LPSC dockets | Partner announcements | SpaceX S-1 and air permits |
| Main limit | Ratepayer risk and pending approval | Contracted vs built capacity | Nameplate vs measured load; permit challenges |
Source: Hyperion from Meta and Entergy; Stargate and Colossus 2 summarized from Inside Deep Tech's Stargate full guide and Colossus 2 full guide, which link their primary sources.
Water, grid and community: the local fight
Richland Parish is rural, and Hyperion is the largest project in its history. Meta says it has contracted more than $1.6 billion with Louisiana businesses, and that local teacher bonus checks rose 400% this year from new tax revenue.
Water
Meta said in 2024 that it anticipates the data center will use less water than the site does today, because the land was irrigated farmland. Closed-loop liquid cooling supports that claim. Meta hasn't published a water-use figure for the expanded 5 GW campus.
Secrecy and the subpoena fight
The power contract between Entergy and Meta is confidential. An administrative law judge ordered Meta to produce data on investment, permanent jobs and electricity demand, but in August 2026 three of four commissioners voted to deny the subpoena. Earthjustice, for UCS and the Alliance for Affordable Energy, appealed in late September 2026 to a district court in Baton Rouge.
Fast-track rules
Entergy's phase 2 filing is the first under the LPSC's new Lightning Amendment, which waives the usual competitive bidding rules for qualifying projects. Critics say the rule could let 75% of data center power costs be subsidized by other ratepayers.
Taxes
Louisiana's 2024 law gives data centers built before 2029 a 20-year sales tax exemption, part of the state's pitch to Meta. That's a real cost to the state, offset by property and income taxes that local schools are already seeing.
Honest limits: where the Meta Hyperion story can break
1. Phase 2 power isn't approved
The LPSC is scheduled to consider the seven-plant application at its December 16, 2026 session, and the court appeal asks a judge to pause the case. Meta itself called Entergy's filing "one of several factors needed to move an expansion of this project forward". No approval, no 5 GW.
2. Gigawatts are planned, not measured
Meta's 5 GW is a compute capacity target. It isn't a measured load, and Meta hasn't disclosed how much IT load runs today. The subpoena fight was about exactly that number.
3. The lease is short and the plants are long
Meta's leases run four years with options, its power contract runs 20 years, and gas plants last decades. Each layer shifts risk to a different party: Blue Owl's bondholders, Entergy's customers, or Meta's residual value guarantee.
4. AI demand could change
Efficiency gains, a capex pullback or a shift to inference elsewhere could leave Hyperion oversized. Meta's own Q2 2026 results show free cash flow of $784 million against $31.08 billion of quarterly capex, so the buildout leans on capital markets.
5. Gas lock-in
Ten gas plants would commit Louisiana to fossil generation for decades. Meta's 100% clean energy matching is an accounting match, not hourly carbon-free supply on the Hyperion meter.
What Meta Hyperion means for you
- If you sell into AI infrastructure: Hyperion's phase 2 gas, transmission and battery work runs through Entergy's construction program from 2026 to 2031. That's the procurement calendar to watch.
- If you plan a large campus: Hyperion proves a utility-built path works, but it takes a 20-year contract, public dockets and years of lead time. Compare it with on-site options before you commit.
- If you invest in power or utilities: watch the December LPSC vote and the court appeal. They decide whether over 5 GW of new gas gets built for one customer.
Meta's nuclear deals are separate from Hyperion but part of the same power strategy; see Inside Deep Tech's TerraPower Natrium full guide for what Meta signed there.
FAQ
What is Meta Hyperion?
Meta Hyperion is Meta's largest AI training cluster, housed at its Richland Parish Data Center in northeast Louisiana. Meta plans to scale the campus to 5 GW of compute capacity.
How much does Meta Hyperion cost?
Meta says the expanded campus represents more than $50 billion of investment. The first phase was budgeted at about $27 billion through the Blue Owl joint venture.
When will Meta Hyperion be finished?
Meta expects 2 GW by 2030 and the full 5 GW around 2032. The first dedicated gas plants are due in late 2028 and 2029.
Where does Meta Hyperion get its power?
From Entergy Louisiana's grid, backed by three approved gas plants and seven more proposed plants totaling over 5,200 MW, plus solar, batteries and nuclear uprates that Meta pays for.
Who owns Meta Hyperion?
Funds managed by Blue Owl Capital own 80% of the joint venture that owns the campus, and Meta owns 20%. Meta manages construction and operations and leases the buildings.
Is Meta Hyperion bigger than Prometheus?
Yes. Prometheus in Ohio is a gigawatt-scale cluster that is already training Meta's models, while Hyperion targets 5 GW. Prometheus is the template for Hyperion's design.
What to watch next
Meta Hyperion is real concrete with real gas plants behind it, and a 5 GW ambition that still depends on regulators, judges and capital markets. Three signals will tell you which way it goes: the LPSC vote on December 16, 2026, the Baton Rouge court ruling on the Meta subpoena, and whether Meta names a financing partner for phase 2.
For the other two gigawatt AI campuses racing Hyperion, read Inside Deep Tech's OpenAI Stargate full guide and xAI Colossus 2 full guide.
