Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is reaching "peak construction" on a nearly 1 million-sq.-ft. data center on 485 acres in Kuna, Idaho, which would be the social media company's 15th such server farm in the United States, idahostateman.com reported.
"Construction is going well, and the exterior on all buildings is complete," said Stacey Yip, a spokesperson for Meta, in an email to the Idaho Statesman. "Paving and landscaping still need to be finalized and will take place this year."
Yip said there are approximately 1,400 construction workers on site. That's 200 more than anticipated for peak construction when the center was announced in 2022.
Colorado-based Hensel Phelps Construction and Boise, Idaho-based Engineered Structures Inc. are the project contractors, according to idahostatesman.com.
Yip didn't say how much of the $800 million total capital investment went toward construction costs but said that total is "still accurate for our total investment in the region."
Meta broke ground in 2022 and hopes to have it operational by the end of 2026, according to idahostatesman.com.
That's a year later than planned. Yip said delays were caused by a redesign to support artificial intelligence technologies by "building an increased level of flexibility into our processes. Supporting AI workloads at scale requires a different approach than scaling to support our traditional online services."
When it's complete, the data center will employ 100 workers, according to idahostatesman.com.
More Data Centers Coming
Meta's Kuna center may be Idaho's first large data center, but tax breaks and low electricity rates may be attracting others.
On April 1, 2025, the Kuna City Council approved a large data center approximately 6 mi. west of the Meta center. To be called the Gemstone Technology Park, its expected cost is more than $1 billion and will take approximately 10 years to build.
Gemstone's developer, Kansas-based Diode Ventures, hasn't announced the data center's operator, but Yip said it won't be Meta, idahostatesmen.com reported.
Aside from the data center, Meta has committed to building a $70 million water and sewer system that it will donate to the city of Kuna.
Data centers are on the rise nationwide, partly to meet the demand from the growth of technologies like artificial intelligence.
Five years ago, the Idaho Legislature enacted a sales-tax exemption on construction materials and server equipment designed to entice data centers and the big investments that come with them, idahostatesman.com reported.
