Meta Builds 5GW AI Data Center to Rival OpenAI & Google

Meta is taking a bold step forward in the AI race. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the construction of Hyperion, a massive data center expected to deliver 5 gigawatts (GW) of computing power for training frontier AI models.

The scale is staggering—Hyperion’s footprint will rival the size of Manhattan. It will supply Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Lab, which includes top recruits like Alexandr Wang (former Scale AI CEO) and Daniel Gross (former Safe Superintelligence CEO). Meta is also preparing to launch a 1GW AI supercluster named Prometheus by 2026, placing the company among the first to do so at this scale.

This infrastructure push positions Meta to compete head-to-head with OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. The vast computational resources could attract elite talent and help Meta train some of the world’s most advanced AI models.

However, these gains come with real-world trade-offs. Combined, Hyperion and Prometheus will consume enough power for millions of homes, raising concerns about environmental impact and local resource depletion. In Newton County, Georgia, Meta’s data center has already caused water shortages, according to The New York Times. Similar effects are feared near upcoming AI data centers from CoreWeave, especially in energy-stretched areas like Dallas, Texas.

Despite these concerns, the momentum behind AI infrastructure keeps growing. Other massive projects include OpenAI’s Stargate, in collaboration with Oracle and SoftBank, and xAI’s Colossus supercomputer.

Government support is also intensifying. Former President Donald Trump publicly backed OpenAI’s Stargate launch, while U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently urged America to lead the next “energy-intensive frontier” of artificial intelligence. In The Economist, he argued that AI transforms electricity into “the most valuable output imaginable: intelligence.”

But there’s a looming challenge: energy supply. Experts warn that data centers could consume up to 20% of U.S. electricity by 2030, a steep rise from 2.5% in 2022. Without major increases in energy production, communities near these projects may bear the cost.