Meta’s AI-optimized data centers and infrastructure are an investment in the future of the American economy. American AI is creating skilled jobs, increasing productivity, helping businesses grow, and advancing scientific research. As this transformative technology progresses, we believe it will become ever more valuable to us in our daily lives. But these aren’t just investments in technology —they’re investments in people and communities across the United States. 

For 15 years, Meta has built and operated some of the most efficient and innovative data centers in the world, and we work hard to be a good neighbor in communities where we have data centers. We do this by focusing on four key areas: responsible energy use, supporting jobs and workforce development, minimizing our impact on water and the environment, and supporting community priorities, schools, and nonprofits.

Powering Innovation

We know data centers use a lot of energy. Meta pays the full costs for the energy used by our data centers, so they aren’t passed on to consumers. We work closely with utilities to plan for and meet our energy needs years in advance of our data centers coming online, and on an ongoing basis afterwards. We pay for new and existing grid infrastructure needed to serve our data centers, without negatively impacting customers. This longstanding principle will continue to be a core part of our work as our infrastructure grows.

We work with utilities and market operators, who have an overall view of local grids, meaning that they can plan for and procure the infrastructure needed to reliably serve all customers and ensure other customers are not negatively impacted by our energy use. This includes rate structures like large load tariffs, a mechanism that ensures we pay for infrastructure added to benefit us – including new power sources and transmission lines – as well as our share of other grid infrastructure. Regulator-approved rate structures like these help ensure customers and the utility are protected from shouldering the costs of infrastructure needed for our data centers.

Through our energy agreements with utilities, we’re supporting utilities to grow and modernize the grid to benefit everyone. Each year, we pay hundreds of millions of dollars to support new and upgraded grid infrastructure in the regions where we operate. And we’re committed to working with utilities and grid operators to support grid reliability during periods of emergency and heightened demand, including evaluating programs to reduce our energy usage at these times.