Meta has begun building a $10 billion data center campus in Lebanon, Indiana, a project meant to power the company’s next wave of artificial intelligence tools and services. Planned at utility scale, the buildout underscores how central AI has become to Meta’s core business and how much physical infrastructure that shift now requires.
The investment will turn a large stretch of central Indiana into a strategic hub for Meta’s computing needs, linking a local construction story to a global race for AI capacity. It amounts to a clear statement that the company expects AI-heavy products to define its future, from recommendation systems to generative models.
Why Meta picked Lebanon, Indiana for a $10 billion bet
Meta’s decision to place its newest campus in Lebanon, Indiana reflects a mix of geography, power access, and state-level courtship. The city, located in Boone County, sits along key highway corridors and within commuting distance of Indianapolis, giving the company both land and labor while keeping it close to a major metro area. A quick look at Lebanon, Indiana shows how the once quiet community is now positioned as a logistics and tech node in the middle of the state.
State officials have worked to turn that location into a magnet for big-ticket projects. Indiana Gov Mike Braun joined executives from Meta Platforms Inc as they broke ground at the LEAP District, a large industrial area set aside for advanced industry and infrastructure. In public remarks, the governor cast the $10 billion Meta Platforms Inc commitment as proof that the LEAP District strategy is working, a point reinforced by local coverage of the LEBANON project.
Inside a 1,500-acre, 1 GW AI campus
The Indiana build is not a single warehouse full of servers but a sprawling technology campus designed to scale. Meta released renderings of a $10 billion, 1,500-acre campus at the LEAP site, with multiple buildings, support facilities, and room for expansion. The company has said this campus will ultimately support 1GW of capacity once it is fully operational, putting it in the same league as major utility power plants in terms of electrical demand.
From the company’s own description, the Lebanon, Indiana facility will be one of its largest infrastructure investments to date and is framed as a milestone in its AI buildout. Meta has emphasized that the new data center in Lebanon, Indiana is designed as a state-of-the-art site tailored for AI workloads rather than a generic cloud facility. In its public “Takeaways,” Meta said the project will deliver 1GW of capacity once operational and described it as one of its largest infrastructure investments so far.
Powering Meta’s next generation of AI
The Indiana campus is rising at a moment when Meta is racing to keep pace with rivals in AI, from recommendation engines on Facebook and Instagram to generative tools that can create images or text. The company has been clear that this new build is meant to boost its AI capabilities by adding massive computing power and high-speed connectivity. In its announcement, Meta said it is breaking ground on a state-of-the-art data center in Lebanon, Indiana as a milestone AI investment, a message echoed in its Hello, Lebanon outreach to the community.
Technical reporting on the project describes a facility sized for AI training and inference at scale. Meta Platforms has broken ground on what has been described as a 1 GW campus in Leba, with the site chosen for its power availability, affordability, and public infrastructure investments that can support heavy digital loads. One report notes that the campus is located about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis, a siting choice that balances proximity to a city with space for large power and cooling systems, as detailed in coverage of the Indiana data center and the related analysis of location and power.
Economic stakes for Indiana and the LEAP District
For Indiana, the Meta project is about far more than data and servers. The $10 billion price tag represents a long-term bet on jobs, tax base, and follow-on investment in the LEAP District and surrounding communities. Earlier this week, Indiana Gov Braun Breaks Ground on $10B Meta Data Center Campus at LEAP District, a state event that underscored how central the project has become to the state’s economic story and highlighted the official framing of the Meta Data Center as a signature win.
Local reporting has emphasized both the construction impact and the long-term operating footprint. Meta released renderings that show a 1,500-acre campus that will reshape the LEAP District and bring new infrastructure, from roads to utility lines, into the area. One account of the groundbreaking noted that Meta Platforms Inc executives spoke about the project’s “real impact across the region,” language that reflects how the company wants residents to see the build as more than a fenced-off complex, as described in coverage of the 1,500-acre site.
How the project fits into Meta’s wider AI buildout
The Lebanon campus is not an isolated move; it fits into a broader pattern of Meta building out AI-focused infrastructure across the United States. The company has said that the new facility will be its second data center in Indiana, a sign that it sees long-term value in the state’s power grid and business environment. In a community-focused post, Meta said it is thrilled to announce that Lebanon, Indiana will be home to its next state-of-the-art data center and described the project as part of a “future of shared success,” language used in the Hello, Lebanon message to residents.
National coverage has framed the Indiana build as a flagship in Meta’s AI expansion. One report stated that Meta begins construction of a $10 billion Indiana data center to boost AI capabilities and described how the company announced the move on a Wednesday as part of a broader strategy to expand AI infrastructure. That same report linked the project to Meta’s push to serve AI products to billions of users, positioning the Indiana build as a key node in that network, as outlined in coverage of the Indiana data center.
