Council members of the West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana have approved a zoning change to construct a $2.5 billion data center.
Energy infrastructure operator Hut 8 plans to build the data center facility on a 611-acre site off LA-964, with construction expected to begin in early 2025, Louisiana First News reported.
The project will begin by constructing two large buildings to house data servers. During construction, it is expected to create significant economic opportunities, including an estimated 2,000 jobs.
The first building is scheduled for completion by the end of 2025, and the second is expected to be completed by late 2026.
The data center will require an initial power demand of 300 megawatts, enough to supply around 54,000 homes for a year. This significant energy requirement underscores the scale of the project, although its details have not been released.
The demand for data centers in the United States has increased, driven primarily by the continued rise of cloud computing and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI).
Rendering of the Hut 8 data center in West Feliciana Parish outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Image: WBRZ
Hut 8 intends to lease the center to an undisclosed tenant, which will invest approximately $10 billion in computers and equipment needed for operations.
As data centers become increasingly vital in the tech industry, this project highlights Louisiana as a destination for such large-scale developments. The announcement follows a similar initiative by Meta in the state and adds to Louisiana’s role in the artificial intelligence and data sectors.
Hut 8 Corp., headquartered in Miami, Florida, is an energy infrastructure operator and Bitcoin miner. It operates self-mining, hosting, managed services, and data centers across North America, including 15 sites in Alberta, New York, Texas, British Columbia, and Ontario.
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