Meta is to increase spending more than sixfold on an AI data center in El Paso, raising the price tag to more than $10 billion.
When the Texas facility was originally announced in October, Meta said it would constitute an investment of $1.5 billion.
Part of the cost inflation comes from Meta’s pursuit of more compute. The company confirmed via a blog post that the center “will grow to one gigawatt” — a leap from its previous assertion that it would merely “have the ability” to scale to this.
The facility — due to come online in 2028 — will ultimately support more jobs once completed, from around 100 to more than 300. Similarly, the number of construction workers required has rocketed, from 1,800 to 4,000.
The announcement was accompanied by renewed commitments to ensure that the 1.2 million square foot site will not be a drain on the local area’s energy resources.
“Since breaking ground last year, we have been proud to call El Paso home and are committed to being a good neighbor,” the blog post stated, underlining that Meta will add more than 5,000 megawatts of clean energy to the grid. It also pointed out that thanks to the use of a closed loop, liquid-cooled system that recirculates water, its water consumption will be comparable to that of a typical West Texas golf course.
However, it’s the jump in expenditure that will attract headlines, particularly at a time when the company is already under increased scrutiny due to the sheer cost of its AI ambitions.
The company’s most recent earnings report in January revealed that capital expenditures in 2026 could reach $135 billion, driven by Meta’s ongoing efforts to build up the compute infrastructure needed for AI rollout.
At the same time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that 2026 would be a landmark year for AI within the business, leading to a “flattening” of teams beause “projects that used to require big teams [can] now be accomplished by a single very talented person.”
The realities of this appear to be coming home to roost, with a first wave of job cuts under way. The company confirmed to The Register that 700 roles will be axed initially. “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals,” the company said in a statement.
At the same time as AI infrastructure costs are soaring, Meta share prices are dropping, with an immediate fall on Thursday in the wake of a California court case that found the company had harmed a young user with addictive social media design features — sparking fears of more lawsuits.
