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I'll never understand why tech companies choose some of the locations for their data centers. Considering a big thing with data centers is "keeping stuff cool",

I'll never understand why tech companies choose some of the locations for their data centers. Considering a big thing with data centers is "keeping stuff cool", you would think they would build them in the northern states, closer to Canada versus the hot sticky swamp.

gen3 1y ago
The speed of light is incredibly slow and data through a wire is even slower. Proximity is worth something
- gowld 1y ago
  So why put a datacenter in Louisiana, far from the vast majority of people in the Americas?
  - gen3 1y ago
    You’re pretty close to Texas tech hubs, plus Meta was able to convince them to pass Louisiana Act No 730 so they save a ton on capex
- coolspot 1y ago
  Doesn’t matter for training, as all GPUs are colocated in the same DC.
- aeve890 1y ago
  >The speed of light is incredibly slow I get where you're coming from but still I find funny in so many levels that the literal speed limit of the universe is too slow for our mundane (or even banal in FB case) needs. the universe isn't good enough to our need to move bullshit across the globe. surreal. In the same vein it would be awesome if this _need for speed_ would materialize in infinite funding of neutrino based communication research.
  - lostmsu 1y ago
    As a side note, if you liked the above comment, but haven't yet read "A Fire Upon the Deep", you will probably enjoy it.
- paxys 1y ago
  Distance is a minor factor. They'd put a data center on the moon if it had an abundance of cheap energy.
righthand 1y ago
Louisiana and New Orleans have been pushing to make the city a “tech hub” for the past 10 years (why would you build data centers in a flood-prone basin below sea level? I don’t know). I imagine most of it is striking a sweet heart deal with the municipalities that want the business.
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  This will be built in North Louisiana from what I understand, well above sea level. Hurricanes on the other hand will still be a very real thing.
- selimthegrim 1y ago
  There were several data centers and colos on Poydras St in downtown when Katrina hit. Famously SomethingAwful was being hosted out of one of them whose remaining on site employee live blogged the whole thing on LiveJournal.
khuey 1y ago
Cheap land and cheap energy.
phyrex 1y ago
I'm pretty sure Meta's team has written about that at length. It's about many things, such as (power/transportation/internet/energy) infrastructure, political situation, available workforce, vicinity to population centers, property prices, and a whole lot more
dj_gitmo 1y ago
It says right in the article that they have lots of natural gas, and the state is bringing on 2GW of new electrical capacity.
personjerry 1y ago
> I'll never understand why tech companies choose some of the locations That's because you've chosen not to read about it. Location is one of the most important things they think about for data centers and there are plenty of articles on the subject. Here's a recent article: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/25/meta-massive-data-center-louisiana-cost-jobs-energy-use.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/25/meta-massive-data-center-lou... “We set out looking for a place where we could expand into gigawatts pretty quickly, and really get moving within that community on a large plot of land very quickly,” said Rachel Peterson, vice president of data centers for Meta. “We looked at finding very, very large contiguous plots of land that had access to the infrastructure that we need, the energy that we needed, and could move very, very quickly for us.” To answer the question you're implying, surrounding temperature is pretty minor, the cooling required is orders of magnitude higher, so power access is more important; You'll frequently find them located near sources of energy.
- moffkalast 1y ago
  Meta has defacto infinite money, they don't have to look for places where operation is cheap, but where they can be above the law as much as possible for doing whatever they want.
smelendez 1y ago
Cheap gas, cheap land (it's on a big essentially empty plot that people have wanted to develop for a while, in a poor area with plenty of underutilized farmland), state and local governments that care more about this project than about environmental concerns. Similar reason to why a lot of chemical manufacturing is in Louisiana.

gen3 1y ago

The speed of light is incredibly slow and data through a wire is even slower. Proximity is worth something

gowld 1y ago
So why put a datacenter in Louisiana, far from the vast majority of people in the Americas?
- gen3 1y ago
  You’re pretty close to Texas tech hubs, plus Meta was able to convince them to pass Louisiana Act No 730 so they save a ton on capex
coolspot 1y ago
Doesn’t matter for training, as all GPUs are colocated in the same DC.
aeve890 1y ago
>The speed of light is incredibly slow I get where you're coming from but still I find funny in so many levels that the literal speed limit of the universe is too slow for our mundane (or even banal in FB case) needs. the universe isn't good enough to our need to move bullshit across the globe. surreal. In the same vein it would be awesome if this _need for speed_ would materialize in infinite funding of neutrino based communication research.
- lostmsu 1y ago
  As a side note, if you liked the above comment, but haven't yet read "A Fire Upon the Deep", you will probably enjoy it.
paxys 1y ago
Distance is a minor factor. They'd put a data center on the moon if it had an abundance of cheap energy.

righthand 1y ago

Louisiana and New Orleans have been pushing to make the city a “tech hub” for the past 10 years (why would you build data centers in a flood-prone basin below sea level? I don’t know). I imagine most of it is striking a sweet heart deal with the municipalities that want the business.

the_real_cher 1y ago
This will be built in North Louisiana from what I understand, well above sea level. Hurricanes on the other hand will still be a very real thing.
selimthegrim 1y ago
There were several data centers and colos on Poydras St in downtown when Katrina hit. Famously SomethingAwful was being hosted out of one of them whose remaining on site employee live blogged the whole thing on LiveJournal.

khuey 1y ago

Cheap land and cheap energy.

phyrex 1y ago

I'm pretty sure Meta's team has written about that at length. It's about many things, such as (power/transportation/internet/energy) infrastructure, political situation, available workforce, vicinity to population centers, property prices, and a whole lot more

dj_gitmo 1y ago

It says right in the article that they have lots of natural gas, and the state is bringing on 2GW of new electrical capacity.

personjerry 1y ago

> I'll never understand why tech companies choose some of the locations That's because you've chosen not to read about it. Location is one of the most important things they think about for data centers and there are plenty of articles on the subject. Here's a recent article: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/25/meta-massive-data-center-louisiana-cost-jobs-energy-use.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/25/meta-massive-data-center-lou... “We set out looking for a place where we could expand into gigawatts pretty quickly, and really get moving within that community on a large plot of land very quickly,” said Rachel Peterson, vice president of data centers for Meta. “We looked at finding very, very large contiguous plots of land that had access to the infrastructure that we need, the energy that we needed, and could move very, very quickly for us.” To answer the question you're implying, surrounding temperature is pretty minor, the cooling required is orders of magnitude higher, so power access is more important; You'll frequently find them located near sources of energy.

moffkalast 1y ago
Meta has defacto infinite money, they don't have to look for places where operation is cheap, but where they can be above the law as much as possible for doing whatever they want.

smelendez 1y ago

Cheap gas, cheap land (it's on a big essentially empty plot that people have wanted to develop for a while, in a poor area with plenty of underutilized farmland), state and local governments that care more about this project than about environmental concerns. Similar reason to why a lot of chemical manufacturing is in Louisiana.