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Meta bringing $800 million data center to southern Indiana

By Giselle Rhoden, IPB News | Published on in Business, Statewide News, Technology
Construction of the Meta's Jeffersonville Data Center at River Ridge will begin this month. (Facebook)

Meta Platforms Inc. is building an $800 million data center that will create about 100 operational jobs and more than 1,200 construction jobs at the River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb joined leaders from River Ridge Commerce Center and Jeffersonville to unveil the economic development project during a news conference Thursday.

Meta Platforms Inc. — the owner of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp — will begin construction of the 700,000-square-foot facility at River Ridge this month. Officials expect the project to support 1,250 jobs during peak construction.

“Today, [Indiana will] be able to add not just capacity, but value to all of our powerhouse industries: our life sciences, our advanced manufacturing, our logistics, and having access to what [Meta] provides to the world,” Holcomb said at the news conference.

Once completed, the data center will be supported by 100% renewable energy and employ about 100 operational jobs.

“Jeffersonville is the perfect home for Meta,” said Brad Davis, Meta’s director of data center community and economic development. “It offers great access to infrastructure, to renewable energy, a strong pool of talent, and — most important — an amazing set of community partners.”

Davis said the center will launch grants to create STEM — or science, technology, engineering and math — education and technological literacy programs in partnership with local schools and community organizations.

The Jeffersonville Data Center is expected to open in 2026. It will be Meta’s 18th facility in the U.S. and 22nd in the world.

It’s one of several economic development projects coming to River Ridge including production facilities from The Cheesecake Factory and Canadian Solar Inc.

Coverage of Southern Indiana on Louisville Public Media is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.