Meta has announced it will expand its Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, to 5 GW of compute capacity from an initial 2 GW, pushing its planned investment in the region beyond $50 billion. The announcement was made in an official blog post on Monday, July 13. The expansion is a major increase over the $10 billion, 4-million-square-foot project Meta unveiled in December 2024. Meta said local Louisiana businesses have received more than $1.6 billion in contracts since construction began, and teacher bonuses in Richland Parish rose from $10,000 last year to more than $50,000 this year, funded by increased tax revenue. Meta also plans to invest over $1 billion in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water, and wastewater systems. The company’s agreement with utility Entergy Louisiana includes natural-gas plants providing more than 5.2 GW of capacity and support for up to 2.5 GW of new solar generation. Entergy claims Meta’s payments could save other customers around $2 billion over 20 years. In late 2024, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into law a 20-year sales tax exemption for data centers built before 2029. First announced as a $10 billion project in December 2024, Hyperion is Meta’s AI supercluster campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana.