Meta is pushing forward its AI computing power development in a more aggressive way. According to information disclosed by Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, an organization that tracks data center deployments, the company has erected multiple tent-like structures outside its New Albany campus in Ohio, USA, to house its data center projects.
This approach is not a temporary measure. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a media interview last year that plans were in place to use weatherproof temporary structures to house the company's multi-gigawatt data center facilities. The latest satellite imagery and local permits provide the outside world with a clearer picture of the project's progress and actual scale for the first time.
Five large structures have been completed within a few months.
City permits reviewed by Thomas show that Meta began construction on five structures totaling approximately 125,000 square feet between April and June 2026. Satellite imagery shared on the X platform shows that these facilities are now complete.
Meta refers to these facilities as "rapid deployment structures." Based on publicly available information, the core objective of this approach is to shorten construction time. The report mentions that Meta hopes to reduce completion time by approximately half.
The construction method is similar to that of Tesla and xAI.
This approach has drawn comparisons to Tesla's early use of temporary production structures in the parking lot of its Fremont, California factory to accelerate Model 3 production ramp-up. Meanwhile, approximately 200 megawatts of modular gas turbines have been deployed near the Meta project to provide power to the campus, a method similar to the rapid power supply commonly used by xAI.
With the construction cycle of AI data centers being lengthened and power access becoming a bottleneck, temporary structures combined with on-site power supply are becoming a realistic option for some technology companies to accelerate the deployment of computing power.
Under pressure to invest heavily, Meta places greater emphasis on speed and cost.
The report points out that AI chips will be deployed inside these tent-like structures, with the related equipment potentially worth billions of dollars. For Meta, faster delivery of the data center means that computing power can be put into training and inference tasks sooner.
Meta previously stated its plans to increase data center and other capital expenditures to a maximum of $145 billion. This massive investment has also raised concerns in the capital markets. The report noted that Meta's stock price has fallen by approximately 5% this year. In this context, adopting faster and potentially lower-cost construction methods is seen as a way to control spending pressures.
As of the time of publication, Meta had not responded to the matter.
