Meta to Invest $1.5B in Texas Data Center by 2028

On October 15, Meta announced a $1.5 billion investment to build a new data center in El Paso, Texas, marking its 29th data center worldwide. This expansion is designed to support the company's growing artificial intelligence workloads.

The El Paso facility will be Meta's third data center in Texas and is expected to go online by 2028. Once fully operational, it could scale up to 1 gigawatt, making it one of the largest planned data center campuses in the U.S.

Major tech companies are racing to build AI infrastructure. According to filings, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are projected to invest over $360 billion in 2025 alone, with most spending focused on powering data centers.

Meta expects the new facility to create around 100 permanent jobs, while construction will peak with more than 1,800 workers on-site. The company highlighted El Paso's robust power grid and skilled workforce as key factors in choosing the location.

Including this investment, Meta has put over $10 billion into Texas and employs more than 2,500 people in the state. The $1.5 billion will fund the current phase of the El Paso data center project.

"Fast-growing companies find their niche, and others follow," said Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, which supports local economic development. "Meta is the fastest-growing company in this sector, and we expect others to follow its lead here."

The project initially began with a recommendation from Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office about four years ago, coupled with a package of local tax incentives and support measures.

Meta also emphasized sustainability: the data center will run entirely on renewable energy and feature a closed-loop liquid cooling system to recycle water. The company has committed to returning twice the amount of water it consumes to the local watershed, surpassing its 2030 "water-positive" goal.