From IEEE Spectrum, March 24:
A giant data center is making engineers throw out the rule book
The 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 $60 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 CO2 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....
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....There’s apparently no shortage of eligible sites, however, as both the number of data centers under construction, and the money spent on them, has skyrocketed. The spending has allowed companies building data centers to throw out the rule book. Prior to the AI boom, most data centers relied on tried-and-true designs that prioritized inexpensive and efficient construction. Big tech’s willingness to spend has shifted the focus to speed and scale.
The loose purse strings open the door to larger and more robust prefabricated concrete wall and floor panels. Doug Bevier, director of development at Clark Pacific, says some concrete floor panels may now span up to 23 meters and need to handle floor loads up to 3,000 kilograms per square meter, which is more than twice the load international building codes normally define for manufacturing and industry. In some cases, the concrete panels must be custom-made for a project, an expensive step that the economics of pre-AI data centers rarely justified.
Simultaneously, the time scale for projects is also compressed: Jamie McGrath, senior vice president of data-center operations at Crusoe, says the company is delivering projects in “about 12 months,” compared to 30 to 36 months before. Not all projects are proceeding at that pace, but speed is universally a priority.
That makes it difficult to coordinate the labor and materials required. Meta’s Hyperion site, located in rural Richland Parish, Louisiana, is emblematic of this challenge. As reported by NOLA.com, at least 5,000 temporary workers have flocked to the area, which has only about 20,000 permanent residents. These workers earn above-average wages and bring a short-term boost for some local businesses, such as restaurants and convenience stores. However, they have also spurred complaints from residents about traffic and construction noise and pollution....
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