Key Takeaways
- Meta has escalated its El Paso, Texas AI data center budget from $1.5 billion to $10 billion — representing a sixfold expansion
- The complex aims for 1 gigawatt capacity with an anticipated 2028 launch date
- The tech giant announced workforce reductions affecting hundreds of employees across various divisions on Wednesday
- Meta shares dropped 8% Thursday following two court decisions holding the company responsible for youth user harm
- The company’s capital spending forecast for 2025 reaches as high as $135 billion
Meta initiated construction on its El Paso data facility in October 2024 with an initial $1.5 billion commitment. The investment has now ballooned to $10 billion. Gary Demasi, serving as Meta’s VP of data center development, disclosed the revised investment total during the annual Borderplex Alliance summit held in El Paso.
Meta Platforms $META just said it plans to now spend $10 Billion on its AI data center in El Paso, Texas, up from a prior commitment of $1.5B – CNBC pic.twitter.com/2FK6WF6Zni
— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) March 26, 2026
The complex occupies 1.2 million square feet and aims to achieve 1 gigawatt of operational capacity when it becomes operational in 2028. This will mark Meta’s third Texas-based data center and joins approximately 30 facilities worldwide, with 26 located across the United States.
According to Meta, the development will employ over 4,000 construction personnel during peak building phases and generate 300 full-time positions once fully operational.
The social media giant also announced contracted initiatives that will contribute more than 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy to Texas’s power infrastructure. Addressing water sustainability concerns that have emerged around AI data center construction nationwide, Meta revealed it’s executing eight water conservation initiatives throughout Texas.
Among these efforts is a collaboration with nonprofit organization DigDeep to provide clean running water to more than 100 households for the first time. The new data center will employ a closed-loop liquid cooling technology that recycles water, with Meta estimating water consumption levels similar to those of a standard regional golf course.
Legal Setbacks Trigger Share Price Decline
Thursday’s 8% decline in META shares stemmed from two independent court judgments finding the company liable for damages to young platform users. These decisions sparked investor anxiety about possible modifications to design strategies underlying Meta’s advertising revenue model.
Shares have now declined 17% year-to-date. Unlike competitors Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, Meta lacks a cloud infrastructure division to balance its substantial AI expenditures — a vulnerability that has attracted heightened investor scrutiny.
Meta announced in January that 2025 capital investments would climb to $135 billion, positioning it among the largest investors in the ongoing AI infrastructure expansion. The broader tech sector is forecast to allocate over $630 billion toward AI infrastructure throughout this year.
Workforce Reductions Accompany Infrastructure Expansion
As data center funding expands, Meta is reducing employee numbers. The company announced hundreds of job eliminations Wednesday spanning Facebook operations, global business functions, recruitment, sales teams, and its virtual reality segment. A previous Reuters investigation suggested layoffs might impact 20% or more of total staff.
On the semiconductor front, Meta executed significant chip procurement agreements with Nvidia and AMD in February and this week emerged as the inaugural confirmed client for Arm’s latest data center processor. The company additionally unveiled four updated variants of its proprietary MTIA AI accelerator chips.
Meta’s El Paso construction site was most recently documented in March 2026, five months following the groundbreaking ceremony.
