GoKawiilThe undying thirst for smarter (historically, that means larger) AI models and greater adoption of the ones we already have has led to an explosion in data-center construction projects, unparalleled both in number and scale. Chief among them is Meta’s planned 5-gigawatt data center in Louisiana, called Hyperion, announced in June of 2025. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Hyperion will “cover a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan,” and the first phase—a 2-GW version—will be completed by 2030.
Though the project’s stated 5-GW scale is the largest among its peers, it’s just one of several dozen similar projects now underway. According to Michael Guckes, chief economist at construction-software company ConstructConnect, spending on data centers topped US $27 billion by July of 2025 and, once the full-year figures are tallied, will easily exceed $40 billion. Hyperion alone accounts for about a quarter of that.
For the engineers assigned to bring these projects to life, the mix of challenges involved represent a unique moment. The world’s largest tech companies are opening their wallets to pay for new innovations in compute, cooling, and network technology designed to operate at a scale that would’ve seemed absurd five years ago.
At the same time, the breakneck pace of building comes paired with serious problems. Modern data-center construction frequently requires an influx of temporary workers and sharply increases noise, traffic, pollution, and often local electricity prices. And the environmental toll remains a concern long after facilities are built due to the unprecedented 24/7 energy demands of AI data centers which, according to one recent study, could emit the equivalent of tens of millions of tonnes of CO 2 annually in the United States alone.
Regardless of these issues, large AI companies, and the engineers they hire, are going full steam ahead on giant data-center construction. So, what does it really take to build an unprecedentedly large data center?
AI Rewrites Building Design
The stereotypical data-center building rests on a reinforced concrete slab foundation. That’s paired with a steel skeleton and poured concrete wall panels. The finished building is called a “shell,” a term that implies the structure itself is a secondary concern. Meta has even used gigantic tents to throw up temporary data centers.
Still, the scale of the largest AI data centers brings unique challenges. “The biggest challenge is often what’s under the surface. Unstable, corrosive, or expansive soils can lead to delays and require serious intervention,” says Robert Haley, vice president at construction consulting firm Jacobs. Amanda Carter, a senior technical lead at Stantec, said a soil’s thermal conductivity is also important, as most electrical infrastructure is placed underground. “If the soil has high thermal resistivity, it’s going to be difficult to dissipate [heat].” Engineers may take hundreds or thousands of soil samples before construction can begin.
GPUs Modern AI data centers often use rack-scale systems, such as the Nvidia GB200 NVL72, which occupy a single data-center rack. Each rack contains 72 GPUs, 36 CPUs, and up to 13.4 terabytes of GPU memory. The racks measure over 2.2 meters tall and weigh over one and a half tonnes, forcing AI data centers to use thicker concrete with more reinforcement to bear the load. A single GB200 rack can use up to 120 kilowatts. If Hyperion meets its 5-gigawatt goals, the data-center campus could include over 41,000 rack-scale systems, for a total of more than 3 million GPUs. The final number of GPUs used by Hyperion is likely to be less than that, though only because future GPUs will be larger, more capable, and use more power.
Money According to ConstructConnect, spending on data centers neared US $27 billion through July of 2025 and, according to the latest data, will tally close to $60 billion through the end of the year. Meta’s Hyperion project is a big slice of the pie, at $10 billion. Data-center spending has become an important prop for the construction industry, which is seeing reduced demand in other areas, such as residential construction and public infrastructure. ConstructConnect’s third quarter 2025 financial report stated that the quarter’s decline “would have been far more severe without an $11 billion surge in data center starts.”
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