Data centers have gotten so large that their power demands now rival entire U.S. states. Take Meta’s Hyperion AI data center, for example. When completed, the new AI data center will draw as much electricity as South Dakota.
Last week, the Meta announced it would fund seven natural gas power plants — on top of the three it had already committed to building — to support the $27 billion data center. When combined, the 10 power plants in Louisiana will generate around 7.5 gigawatts of electricity, slightly more than the capacity of the entire Mount Rushmore State.
