The race is real, and it's reshaping who stays and who goes.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Meta has broken ground on a billion-dollar data center — its 28th on American soil — as the great race to own the physical foundations of artificial intelligence accelerates across the technology industry. The facility, sprawling across two million square feet, is both an economic promise to a state eager for investment and a monument to the belief that whoever controls computing power controls the future. Yet the same week Meta plants its flag in the heartland, it prepares to lay off a significant portion of its human workforce — a quiet reminder that the infrastructure being built is, in part, being built to replace the people who once built the company.
- The AI infrastructure race has reached a fever pitch, with Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all scrambling to secure the server capacity needed to remain competitive — and no company can afford to blink first.
- Meta's Tulsa facility — over two million square feet, more than a billion dollars, and the company's 32nd data center globally — signals just how enormous the physical stakes of the AI era have become.
- Environmental and consumer groups are raising urgent alarms about the energy and water demands of these sprawling facilities, but their warnings have done little to slow construction timelines.
- Oklahoma's governor is celebrating the deal as an economic windfall, pointing to the state's energy surplus as a natural draw for power-hungry tech infrastructure.
- Even as shovels hit the ground in Tulsa, Meta is preparing sweeping layoffs beginning May 20 — a stark juxtaposition of capital pouring in and human workers being shown the door.
- The twin moves of massive data center investment and workforce reduction reveal a company in deliberate transformation, trading its human present for an automated future.
Meta broke ground this week on a data center in Tulsa, Oklahoma — a facility exceeding two million square feet and costing more than a billion dollars — marking the company's 28th U.S. data center and its first ever in Oklahoma. The site, located at Fair Oaks Innovation Park, will be built by Fortis Construction and is expected to generate over 1,000 construction jobs at peak activity, along with roughly 100 permanent operational roles. Meta has also agreed to cover the full cost of water and wastewater services, absorbing an expense that might otherwise fall to the state or local utilities.
The investment reflects a broader urgency gripping the technology industry. Meta, alongside Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, is locked in an escalating competition to secure the physical computing infrastructure needed to train and run AI systems. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to this effort, viewing raw computing capacity as the decisive battleground of the AI era. Oklahoma's governor welcomed the announcement, noting the state's energy surplus makes it an appealing destination for data centers with heavy power demands.
The expansion does not come without friction. Environmental advocates and consumer groups have grown increasingly vocal about the water consumption, carbon emissions, and energy strain associated with AI infrastructure buildouts — concerns that have yet to slow the industry's momentum.
What sharpens the picture further is what is happening inside Meta simultaneously. The company is preparing a significant wave of layoffs beginning May 20, with more cuts expected later in the year. The contrast is difficult to ignore: as Zuckerberg pours capital into data centers, he is reducing the human workforce that once defined the company. The Tulsa facility is the future Meta is constructing; the coming layoffs are the present it is leaving behind.
Meta broke ground this week on a data center in Tulsa, Oklahoma that will cost more than a billion dollars to build. The facility, which will occupy more than two million square feet at Fair Oaks Innovation Park, represents the company's 28th data center in the United States and its 32nd globally. It is also Meta's first such installation in Oklahoma.
The timing of the announcement underscores the urgency now gripping the technology industry. Meta, like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft before it, is caught in an accelerating competition to secure the physical infrastructure—the vast server farms and processing power—needed to train and run artificial intelligence systems. These facilities are expensive to build and ravenous for electricity. They are also, increasingly, the battleground where the future of AI will be decided. A company without enough computing capacity cannot compete. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to this infrastructure race as he attempts to remake his company around AI technology.
The Tulsa project will generate significant local economic activity during construction. Meta estimates the work will create more than 1,000 jobs at peak building activity, with roughly 100 permanent positions once the facility becomes operational. The company has also committed to paying the full cost of water and wastewater services required to support the site—a substantial ongoing expense that will be borne by Meta rather than the state or local utilities. Fortis Construction has been selected as the general contractor.
Oklahoma's governor, Kevin Stitt, welcomed the investment in a statement, noting that the state produces more energy than it consumes, positioning it as an attractive location for power-hungry data centers seeking reliable and affordable electricity. For a state looking to diversify its economy and attract major corporate investment, the announcement represents a significant win.
Yet the expansion comes with complications that Meta and its peers cannot entirely escape. Environmental groups and consumer advocates have begun pushing back against the energy-intensive buildout of AI infrastructure, raising questions about water consumption, carbon emissions, and the broader sustainability of the technology boom. These concerns have not slowed the race—if anything, they have made it more urgent, as companies fear falling behind competitors who secure computing capacity first.
The announcement also arrives amid organizational turbulence at Meta itself. Reuters reported last week that the company plans to conduct a first wave of significant layoffs beginning May 20, with additional cuts to follow later in the year. The timing suggests that even as Zuckerberg pours resources into AI infrastructure and reshapes the company's technical direction, Meta is simultaneously reducing its workforce. The two moves—massive capital investment in data centers and sweeping job cuts—paint a picture of a company in transition, betting heavily on automation and artificial intelligence while shedding human employees. The Tulsa facility represents the future Meta is building toward; the May layoffs represent the present it is leaving behind.
Citas Notables
We produce more energy than we consume in Oklahoma, giving companies like Meta the reliable and affordable power they need to grow and innovate.— Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt
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Why does Meta need a billion-dollar data center right now? Aren't there already plenty of servers running their platforms?
The servers running Facebook and Instagram are different from what you need for AI. Training large language models and running inference at scale requires orders of magnitude more computing power. It's not about maintaining what exists—it's about building the infrastructure for what comes next.
So this is defensive? Meta is afraid of falling behind?
Partly. But it's also offensive. Zuckerberg has decided that AI is the future of the company. If you don't have the compute, you can't build the models, you can't compete with OpenAI or Google. The race is real.
Oklahoma seems like an odd choice. Why not California or Virginia, where there's already tech infrastructure?
Power and land. Oklahoma produces more electricity than it uses, and land is cheaper. For a facility this size, those economics matter enormously. You need reliable, affordable power and space to build. Oklahoma has both.
The announcement mentions layoffs coming in May. That's the same company investing a billion dollars. How do those two things fit together?
They fit because the future Meta is building doesn't require as many people. Data centers run largely on their own. AI systems, once trained, don't need large teams to operate them. Zuckerberg is betting that automation will let him do more with fewer people.
But what about the people being laid off? Where do they go?
That's the human cost no one talks about when they celebrate these announcements. The jobs created in Tulsa—1,000 construction workers, 100 permanent staff—are real. But they're not the same people losing jobs at Meta headquarters. The geography of gain and loss doesn't match.