DEKALB, ILL. — Facebook parent company Meta has unveiled plans to expand its data center that is currently under construction in DeKalb, more than doubling the square footage from two buildings to five. With the increased footprint, the project now represents a total investment of more than $1 billion. Meta previously announced that it was building its 12th U.S. data center in DeKalb in June 2020. Development costs were estimated at $800 million at that time. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the five-building campus will be the largest data center in the state of Illinois.
Meta says it selected DeKalb, which is located about 65 miles west of Chicago, for its access to renewable energy, talent pool and community partners. Meta is collaborating with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a pilot program with the goal of developing a more sustainable concrete mix to help reduce the carbon footprint. Meta has also invested in two new wind energy projects in the Illinois counties of Morgan and DeWitt.