Today, our parent organization, Temple Economic Development Corporation (TEDC), announced that Meta, formerly the Facebook company, will be creating a Hyperscale Data Center in Temple, Texas. This $800 million investment will be located at the intersection of Eberhardt Road and Industrial Blvd., spanning 393 acres. Once completed, the facility’s size will total approximately 900,000 square feet. The addition of a Meta data center will provide valuable assets to our community, such as employment opportunities, community involvement, and renewable energy.
Career Opportunities
The data center will support approximately 1,250 jobs during the peak of construction and approximately 100 jobs once fully operational. Due to the city’s location, business climate, and low cost of living, Temple is already the ideal location for tech businesses. With additional tech careers provided by the Meta data center, the tech opportunities see no end in sight. The jobs available at the data center will include IT opportunities as well as technical operations, logistics staff, and more.
Meta focuses on building an inclusive and welcoming environment. Their goal is to empower each other to connect, build community, and to create meaningful work for themselves, their company, and the people that use their technologies.
Community Involvement– Improving STEM Programs
Meta has contributed more than $24 million in direct funding to their data center communities. They also provided over 300 grants to local organizations between 2017 and 2019. The primary focus of these investments goes toward nonprofits and public education systems. Not only does this include higher education like Temple College, but also K-12 schools within the Temple Independent School District.
This will help boost the existing climate for technology careers by supporting several local educational programs like Wildcat Workforce, Temple ISD’s Career and Technical Education program which is designed to prepare students for careers.
In fact, once the data center is online, Meta will launch a program called Community Action Grants, which uses the power of technology to connect people, both online and offline, and improve local science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Meta finds ways to engage with and learn alongside their partners. Their contributions are meant to transform the community for the long-run. With improved local STEM programs, more candidates are able to find technology careers in the city of Temple.
Sustainability in Temple
Data centers use large amounts of electricity to power their servers and to keep them cool. With a growing demand for data centers, it’s more important than ever to save energy.
Just like any other Meta facility, the data center in Temple will be supported entirely by renewable energy and use the outdoor air to cool its interior almost year-round. Meta also diverts 80% of construction waste by reusing and recycling materials. They are LEED Gold Level certified and have achieved net zero carbon emissions.
What does this mean for Temple? The new data center will add renewable energy to the local grid, in addition to over 700 MW of new wind and solar energy that Meta has already provided in Texas. Overall, we’re thrilled for Meta to begin the construction of its data center in Temple. With new job opportunities, support for STEM education, and renewable energy being added to the grid, there’s a lot to look forward to. Check out the official press release to learn more.