Meta, the world's largest social media (SNS) corporations, will invest $600 billion (about 874.7 trillion won) over three years in the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
According to Reuters and other local outlets on the 7th (local time), Meta announced the plan. The investments will target AI data centers and related power and energy, as well as community infrastructure. Earlier, on Sept. 9, Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told President Donald Trump that the company would invest "at least $600 billion" over the next few years, and this puts that into action.
Meta is building "AI superintelligence" that surpasses humans, and data centers are essential for this. Meta said, "(Data centers are) extremely important for the United States to maintain its technological edge," adding, "We are investing to build best-in-class AI data centers in the United States."
Meta is already building a 5 GW (gigawatt) AI data center, "Hyperion," in Louisiana. One gigawatt is the output of one nuclear power plant, enough electricity for about 1 million households to use simultaneously.
Meta said, "Our data centers not only power technology and AI work, but also drive economic growth and support jobs and businesses across the country." Since 2020, its data center projects have created 30,000 skilled trade jobs and 5,000 operations jobs, and payments to U.S. partners alone amount to $2 billion.
Meta also said that its direct investments have launched or upgraded power grids worth hundreds of millions of dollars and added 15 GW (gigawatts) of new power to the grid.
It went on to emphasize that its data centers minimize water use and are more efficient than industry standards. Meta said, "We are restoring water to the river basins in the regions where our data centers are located," adding that it plans to achieve "water positive" by 2030.
In addition, Meta said it is investing in local infrastructure such as roads and water systems, and supporting heating and cooling expense for low-income households as well as nonprofit and community projects.