Still nearly four years from completion, the $50 billion Meta Richland Parish Data Center – nicknamed “Hyperion” after the Greek “Titan of Heavenly Light,” is already having an outsized impact on the northeast Louisiana economy. That’s the word from civic, governmental and business leaders alike, in the region.
GrowNELA is the economic development agency representing the region and its 300,000 residents. As the Louisiana Radio Network (LRN) reports, GrowNELA President and CEO Rob Cleveland is touting the short-term economic impact of the data center with construction in full swing. Cleveland cites increased sales tax collections, along with initial job investments as two prime examples of early economic progress.
As Cleveland explained, “Base Technologies, that's a company that does data center work, and that company is gonna invest $80 million and create 200 new jobs in Ouachita Parish.” In all, a total of 7,500 jobs are expected to be created during the yearslong construction phase, along with roughly 1,000 permanent, operational positions.
Construction began on this hyperscale data center roughly 19 months ago on the now-expanded campus. The property will house up to 11 buildings, 10 gas turbine power plants on the grounds, which will measure nearly 10 million square feet, with an eventual 5 gigawatts of compute capacity. That’s according to state and corporate figures.
Cleveland says the economic impact began almost immediately. “First year of the project, 2025, our 10-parishes in the region brought in over $383 million in sales tax, which is up over $40 million.”
Commercial activity has, in turn, also spurred residential development and population growth. That development has translated into more customers visiting local restaurants and other businesses. Cleveland added, “Our restaurants are seeing huge increases in the amount of people that are coming in and many of them are doing catering outside of their normal business activity.”
Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will also “result in an additional 1,900 indirect new jobs for over 2,900 new job opportunities in the Northeast Region.” The Meta Richland Parish Data Center near Holly Ridge, along LA Highway 183, is expected to become operational in 2030, with final project completion projected for 2032.
When it comes to Meta overall vision, a corporate statement said, in part, “[T]his data center will play a vital role in accelerating our AI progress, delivering 5 gigawatts of compute capacity to house Hyperion, our largest multi-gigawatt AI cluster.” Meta founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the one who named the center “Hyperion," the Titan of Heavenly Light.
Last year, Zuckerberg even promoted what he called his new “all-star “superintelligence” team. He announced the company is investing “hundreds of billions of dollars” on AI data centers.” Hyperion’s ultimate purpose, according to Meta itself, is to serve as one of a number of “titan clusters” for superintelligence, if or when it emerges. There is intense debate among experts on the subject.
Even During Construction of Meta’s $50 Billion “Hyperion” for Emergence of Superintelligence - Data Center Already Benefiting Locally
