Regulators in Louisiana paved the way Wednesday for a Meta artificial intelligence facility to be built in the state. The Public Service Commission voted 4-1 in favor of the plan proposed by Louisiana’s largest energy provider,

The first phase of construction will produce two 450,000-square-foot buildings, the first to be completed by the end of the year, the second to be completed before the end of 2026.

Gov. Jeff Landry announces Meta will build at $10 billion data center in Louisiana during an economic development announcement event at the Rayville Civic Center on Dec. 4, 2024.

Fast-tracking a vote that was originally expected to happen two months from now, state utility regulators plan to decide Wednesday whether to approve a controversial power plant Entergy wants to build specifically for tech company Meta to run a giant data center planned for northeast Louisiana.

Entergy is expected to ask members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission to speed up the approval process when the state regulatory agency reconvenes next Wednesday, August 20, two months early.

Baton Rouge-based MMR has quickly expanded from its core business building refineries, petrochemical plants and other nodes of the energy industry into the multibillion-dollar infrastructure boom that's underway in the tech sector.