While critics complain massive data centers suck up too much power and water… draining resources, supporters insist they are a valuable economic development opportunity.
Now, Louisiana is going to be home to four data centers.
A $3.6 billion artificial intelligence factory is coming to Rapides Parish, as Applied Digital Corporation plans to build the AI data center in the town of Boyce.
The company says the project will create more than 1,000 construction jobs, and the new campus will bring in 200 direct jobs, each paying about $90,000 a year.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says the days of outmigration from central Louisiana are over.
“If you woke up in Louisiana 40 years ago and recognized that you’ve watched too many of your friends and your neighbors leave this state, today, that stops. Today, Louisiana wins,” Landry said.
Site development of the data center began in January, and initial operations are expected to begin in mid-2027.
Louisiana Central President and CEO Chris Massingill says this project has the potential to be one of the most transformational in the history of Rapides Parish.
“Today will be a day that we look back on and talk about for years to come; that central Louisiana put a stake in the ground and said in one voice, that we’re open for business and we’re ready to get to work,” Massingill said.
Pineville-based Cleco will provide power to support Applied Digital’s data center. Public Service Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan says this is a huge day for Cenla.
“Today’s announcement shows that central Louisiana, and our state, are not sitting on the sidelines. We’re stepping forward, we’re leaning in, we’re competing aggressively and we’re proving that we can win,” Coussan said.
The campus will support advanced AI and cloud computing workloads.
Other data centers are in various stages of development in Richland, West Feliciana, Caddo and Bossier parishes.
Amazon is developing a $12 billion campus with multiple facilities in Caddo and Bossier parishes.
Meta is constructing a $10 billion facility in Richland Parish.
Hut 8 broke ground on a $10 billion data center in West Feliciana Parish.
