Meta

Recent news

• Jul 29, 2026

  The AI data center boom is sparking fierce competition for skilled labor

  The New York Times reports that the rapid expansion of AI data centers is increasing demand for electricians and prompting companies to invest in workforce training and apprenticeship programs.

  • Google, Meta, and BlackRock are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in apprenticeship programs, community colleges, and workforce training initiatives to expand the skilled labor pipeline.
  • OpenAI has committed to working with unions to staff its projects; the article also notes debate over training methods, including Meta’s four-week training course versus traditional four-year apprenticeships.
  • The story says data center construction is drawing workers away from other projects due to high wages, bonuses, and overtime, while industry experts question what happens after the construction boom ends.
• Jul 29, 2026

  Battery storage is an important growth driver, NextEra CEO says, amid merger to create largest regulated utility in US

  NextEra Energy reported higher Q2 2026 earnings and said it is continuing preparations for a merger with Dominion Energy.

  • Q2 2026 earnings: adjusted earnings of US$2.407 billion versus US$2.164 billion in Q2 2025; net income US$3.144 billion; EPS US$1.15. FPL reported US$1.412 billion net income and US$2.8 billion quarterly capital expenditures, while NextEra Energy Resources reported US$1.634 billion income.
  • Grid and storage activity: FPL expects to install about 900MW of solar and over 1.4GW of battery storage in 2026; NextEra Energy Resources added 3.6GW to backlog, including 2GW of battery storage. The companies also filed merger applications on 15 July and said the deal could close in 2H 2027.
• Jul 29, 2026

  Brookfield, NextEra to Develop $100B Data Center Campus at DOE’s Paducah Site, Paired With 4.6 GW of Dedicated Generation

  Brookfield and NextEra Energy have announced a $100 billion plan to develop a privately funded AI data center campus at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, paired with up to 4.6 GW of dedicated generation.

  • The campus is expected to be fully built out in 2032 and support up to 1.8 GW of utility capacity and more than 1.2 GW of compute load; Brookfield will lease land from DOE and develop and operate the campus.
  • NextEra Energy will own and operate up to 2 GW of natural gas generation and up to 2.6 GW of BESS added in stages; the project also involves Big Rivers Electric, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, and Paducah Power System, with KPSC approval still required for the power service agreement.
• Jul 28, 2026

  World Largest Asset Manager $15 Trillion BlackRock (Sopaipilla Investor) Issues $12.5 Billion 22-Year Note Due 2048 at United States 10-Year Treasury Yield + 2.875% to Finance Facebook Parent Meta Platforms Data Centre in United States Texas, BlackRock Subsidiaries (Global Infrastructure Management & HPS Investment Partners) Own 80% Stake & Facebook Parent Meta Platforms Owns 20% Stake

  BlackRock has issued a $12.5 billion 22-year note due 2048 to finance a Meta Platforms data centre in Texas, United States.

  • The financing was priced at United States 10-year Treasury yield + 2.875% and is described as a 22-year note due 2048.
  • BlackRock subsidiaries Global Infrastructure Management and HPS Investment Partners reportedly own an 80% stake, while Meta Platforms owns 20%; the article is a news-style report from Caproasia, not a primary company announcement.
• Jul 27, 2026

  As Louisiana pursues megaprojects, NDAs become standard operating procedure

  Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry personally signed a mutual nondisclosure agreement with Meta subsidiary Laidley LLC during negotiations over Meta’s Hyperion data center project in Richland Parish.

  • The NDA reportedly covers proposed deal terms, pricing, financial information, and even the existence of the agreement itself; it also restricts public discussion without written approval and asks the state to make “commercially reasonable efforts” to limit public-records disclosures.
  • The article is reporting on records obtained by Gulf States Newsroom and commentary from open-government advocates, while noting that at least 121 employees in Landry’s office have signed similar confidentiality agreements since he took office.
• Jul 23, 2026

  White House Expands Data Center Ratepayer Pledge as Congress Moves to Codify Protections

  The White House expanded its voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge to 187 utilities, electric cooperatives, and data-center developers, while Congress advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act from committee 52-0.

  • The White House said the pledge now covers 187 organizations plus 23 governors, and the coalition “protects” 263 million Americans; signatories commit to fund generation and grid upgrades for their data-center loads without shifting costs to other ratepayers.
  • The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced H.R. 9340 on July 21; the bill would require state regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider a large-load standard for sites with at least 100 MW peak demand and recover the full incremental cost of grid upgrades. New York’s Executive Order 62 separately put permits for 50 MW+ data centers on hold pending an environmental review.
• Jul 23, 2026

  As data centers proliferate, Louisiana is rethinking how to tax them

  Louisiana is considering its first statewide property valuation standards for data centers.

  • The proposal, commissioned by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, would set uniform valuation guidelines for servers, storage systems, networking equipment, and the electrical and cooling infrastructure supporting them.
  • It assigns a three-year economic life to computing equipment and an eight-year economic life to electrical and cooling infrastructure; it is in the early stages of the Louisiana Tax Commission’s rulemaking process and would not affect existing payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements, including Meta’s Richland Parish AI data center.
  • Louisiana Economic Development says ongoing equipment upgrades could replenish the property tax base over time, while author Bob Adair cautions that future replacement investments cannot be assumed.
• Jul 23, 2026

  After the AI Rush, Can Data Centers Reclaim Sustainability?

  The article argues that data center sustainability is under renewed pressure as AI-driven growth increases power, cooling, and water demands, while regulation and community opposition are pushing operators back toward efficiency and environmental stewardship.

  • Regulatory and community pressure: Greenpeace criticism, moratoria in Singapore, Amsterdam, Dublin, and a one-year New York State moratorium on projects over 50 MW are cited as examples of tighter oversight and permitting constraints.
  • Industry response and current context: Operators have long used PUE and renewable PPAs, but the article says AI is shifting priorities toward performance; it cites Frontier’s $1.8 billion permanent carbon removal commitment and an additional $915 million in funding, plus Amazon’s claim it is 75% of the way to water neutrality by 2030 and has cut Northern Virginia water use by 42% year over year.
• Jul 22, 2026

  10 Reasons You Cannot Afford to Miss DCF Trends Summit 2026

  Data Center Frontier has announced the 2026 Data Center Frontier Trends Summit, a three-day event focused on AI infrastructure execution, to be held August 4–6 at the Hyatt Regency Reston.

  • The summit will cover power, site selection, design, density, liquid cooling, investment, supply chains, commissioning, and community acceptance across sessions, roundtables, and tours.
  • Featured participants include leaders from EdgeCore, Schneider Electric, Motivair, Digital Realty, Compass Datacenters, NVIDIA, Meta, Open Compute Project, Equinix, Dominion Energy, Vantage Data Centers, NTT Global Data Centers, and Sabey Data Centers.
  • The article is a conference announcement and promotional overview, not a report on a completed project or deal.
• Jul 20, 2026

  Roundup: Pennington / Judge blocks media merger / BlackRock backs data center

  BlackRock is seeking to sell more than $12 billion in bonds to finance Meta’s AI-focused data center campus in El Paso, Texas.

  • Debt financing: BlackRock plans to issue more than $12 billion in bonds through a holding company that owns 80% of the project, while Meta owns 20%.
  • The El Paso data center is expected to open in 2028; the article says Meta has used a similar financing model for its Hyperion data center project in Louisiana.

  The piece also reports that LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center received a five-year grant renewal, and that a federal judge temporarily blocked Paramount’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

  • Grant renewal: LSU’s center received a five-year, $5.66 million renewal of its Nutrition Obesity Research Center grant from the NIH institute NIDDK, extending support through 2031.
  • Merger pause: A federal judge blocked Paramount’s proposed $81 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery for at least 14 days; a hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Aug. 3.
• Jul 20, 2026

  Where Pennsylvania stands with regulating data centers

  The article is an interview and commentary on Pennsylvania’s response to proposed data center growth, including legislation, zoning, tax policy, and energy-use oversight.

  • House Bill 2496 would let municipalities declare a temporary 180-day moratorium on new data center applications, with the pause reaching back to when officials announced intent to pursue a moratorium.
  • Shapiro’s GRID standards would condition the 6% sales tax exemption for computer equipment on state certification, require 32% clean energy use by 2035, and include $250 million in new investment; the budget’s fiscal code also adds oversight of PJM Interconnection demand forecasts, annual energy and water reporting, and review of advanced transmission technologies before new lines are built.
• Jul 17, 2026

  The AI Infrastructure Split Screen: Capital Rush Meets Community Resistance

  Data Center Frontier has published an analysis of the mid-July AI infrastructure market, combining public-market activity, project announcements, financing moves, and local permitting disputes.

  • Capital markets: Csquare priced 50 million shares at $21 to raise about $1.05 billion and implied an equity value of roughly $3.2 billion; Switch was linked to a potential $10 billion IPO and near $80 billion valuation including debt; Databricks signed a term sheet for a financing at a $188 billion valuation with the Wall Street Journal reporting about $3 billion in new investment.
  • Project and policy developments: Meta said its Hyperion expansion in Louisiana could reach 5 GW and more than $50 billion; Google was tied to a 2.7 GW Project Tembo in Wyoming; New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered an up-to-one-year pause on discretionary environmental permitting for certain hyperscale data centers; Palm Beach County commissioners rejected Project Tango by 5–1 after a roughly 12-hour hearing.
  • The article is a broad market commentary and synthesis, not a single original company announcement. It references multiple first-reported deals and filings, while also citing local opposition, power constraints, and community consent as central themes.
• Jul 17, 2026

  As AI spending surges, return-on-investment questions mount

  The New York Times reports that rapid AI infrastructure spending is creating financial risk for major technology companies, with Oracle especially exposed due to heavy AI-related investment and dependence on customers such as OpenAI.

  • Oracle is under financial pressure as it builds AI infrastructure, contributing to a debt downgrade and a decline in Larry Ellison’s holdings.
  • The article says major tech firms including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI data centers, while spending is increasingly outpacing free cash flow and forcing more reliance on debt.
• Jul 17, 2026

  Right-Sizing Data Centers: How to Match Footprint to Real-World Demand

  The article explains a framework for right-sizing data centers and argues that bigger is not always better.

  • It compares the size spectrum from edge and micro data centers to hyperscale campuses, emphasizing that deployments should be sized around actual business needs.
  • It discusses factors for planning footprint, including IT load, server classes, rack density, cooling, materials, and phased expansion; examples cited include AWS’s 1,200-acre Project Rainer in New Carlisle, Indiana, and CoreSite’s LA1 in Los Angeles.