Meta Breaks Ground on $10B Data Center Campus in Lebanon

LEBANON, Ind.–Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and Meta Platforms Inc. executives broke ground on a $10 billion data center campus in Lebanon Wednesday.

The campus, located at the LEAP Innovation and Research District, is one that the executives say will create around 300 operational jobs and support over 4,000 construction jobs.

“We’re looking at something that’s taking the nation and the country by storm. That is how do we compete in the world of AI,” said Braun at the ceremony.

He said there are a lot of good things about data centers.

“They’re going to lift wages in this state and that’s a goal of ours too. As we grow business, we’re going to grow wages,” said Braun.

Meta’s investment is expected to contribute to local and state tax bases, as well as support schools and nonprofits.

The campus will feature 13 buildings, including 10 data center buildings, and Meta will pay for all energy used and restore water consumed by the data center to local watersheds.

“This means for the majority of the year we’re going to use zero water. We’re minimizing water usage as much as possible and for the water we do use, we are committed to restoring 100% of that in the watersheds,” said Rachel Peterson, vice president of data centers at Meta.

Meta also has a $800 million, 700,000-square-foot data center in Jeffersonville that is nearing its completion.