Meta Begins $1B Data Center Construction in Tulsa, Creating Over 1,000 Jobs

Gate News message, April 22 — Meta announced on April 21 that it has begun construction of a new data center in Oklahoma, a project worth more than $1 billion as the company expands computing infrastructure for AI. The facility is Meta's first data center in Oklahoma and its 28th in the United States.

The site is expected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs at peak and approximately 100 operational roles upon completion. Meta will cover the full cost of water and wastewater services for the facility. The project reflects the company's broader capital spending surge: Meta's capital expenditure climbed from approximately $28 billion in 2023 to an expected $70 billion to $72 billion in 2025. CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated the company is building capacity early for the most optimistic AI outcomes, including possible superintelligence—AI systems that would exceed human intelligence across many tasks.

Meta is also planning multi-gigawatt superclusters, including the Hyperion campus in Louisiana, which starts at approximately 2 gigawatts with capacity to reach 5 gigawatts. The Tulsa facility is part of Meta's wider U.S. data center buildout through 2028.

The expansion adds pressure on local infrastructure, particularly electric utilities in Oklahoma. One utility requested approval from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, citing unprecedented electricity demand from data centers and other industrial businesses; the utility estimated new generation costs could add approximately $10 per month to average home bills. Data centers consume large amounts of water—a Google facility in Pryor, Oklahoma, used more than 1.1 billion gallons from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Hyperscale data centers typically create fewer than 10 jobs per structure on a campus, according to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.