Meta offers a look inside its Huntsville data center
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The Meta data center in Huntsville is home to hundreds of thousands of servers. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
Meta's Huntsville data center opened its doors to reporters Wednesday, aiming to clear the air about data centers and how they work.
Why it matters: Increasing data center development has become a hot-button issue for communities nationwide, as data centers place a higher demand on utilities like the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Zoom in: During a media tour Wednesday, Meta officials highlighted the company's commitment to matching 100% of its electricity use with clean and renewable energy, including four Meta-supported projects adding 687 megawatts of renewable energy in Alabama.
- "We match every megawatt we use with clean and renewable energy," Henry Thornton, community engagement manager at Meta, told reporters.
- "We make sure that none of our data centers increase the bills for any local resident," he said.
Yes, but: Meta, a direct electricity customer of the TVA, doesn't disclose the exact megawatt level of its sub-gigawatt data centers, Thornton said.
- According to Meta's 2025 Environmental Data Index, the Huntsville facility used almost 866 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and withdrew 209 megaliters of water, or about 55 million gallons, in 2024.
- The data center is a Huntsville Utilities water customer, and in September, HU CEO Wes Kelley told the Huntsville City Council that Meta doesn't rank within its top 10 water customers, comparing it to "a large industrial customer."
The big picture: Meta did sign on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, and will pay TVA's new data center rate.
- The center does not produce any electricity on site, Thornton said, and Meta hasn't received any complaints about its noise level.
- Meta also has a commitment to become water positive by 2030.
What they're saying: "Some of it, we have to admit, is kind of grassroots," Thornton said, of misconceptions about data centers. "Some of it is being influenced by folks who perhaps don't want America to be the leaders on this kind of globally-important infrastructure."
- "I think fear begets fear sometimes," he said. "As an industry we need to do more setting the record straight."
Inside the room: Much of the facility is essentially a modern office building: workspaces, a cafe with a dedicated chef and kitchen staff, break rooms and the like.
- Those are paired with large rooms filled with server racks, about four rooms in each of the facility's large rectangular buildings.
- Apart from areas inside the server rooms themselves, it's not hot, nor is it loud on the outside.
Catch up quick: Meta announced the data center in North Huntsville Industrial Park in 2018 and began construction with an initial $750 million investment. That figure grew to more than $1 billion before the facility came online in September 2021.
- A nearly complete expansion announced in 2022 will bring the facility to 3.5 million square feet, and Thornton told reporters Wednesday the company currently has no plans for more expansion in Huntsville.
- Today, Meta's Huntsville data center has passed $1.5 billion in investment, is home to more than 300 full-time employees, and has directly funded area nonprofits and schools for a total of more than $4.5 million.
The bottom line: "Data centers are the infrastructure that brings the modern world to life," Thornton said.