Meta secured a $3.3 billion tax exemption from Louisiana for its $10 billion Hyperion AI data center in Richland Parish

In July 2024, Louisiana commissioners approved tax breaks for Laidley LLC—a Meta subsidiary—to build Hyperion, an AI data center costing north of $10 billion across 2,250 acres of former state-owned farmland to power Meta's Llama AI models.

Under state legislation, Hyperion will be exempt from state and local sales and use taxes on data center equipment (including GPUs that train and run AI models) for 20 years. Meta is spending roughly $35 billion for GPUs; at Louisiana's combined sales tax rate of 9.56%, the exemption is worth more than $3.3 billion in foregone tax revenue.

Meta will pay $732,000 annually to lease the 1,400-acre core parcel, with an option to buy it for $12 million, and has pledged $200 million in local infrastructure improvements, $1 million a year to a low-income ratepayer support program, and 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy built with the utility.