Jacobs has begun work on a $10 billion data center campus in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, marking another major hyperscale construction win for the state and adding to the contractor’s rapidly expanding data center portfolio.
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Miami-based energy infrastructure provider Hut 8 announced that the first phase of construction is underway on its River Bend data center campus, which is expected to begin operations in the second quarter of 2027. The project ranks among the largest private capital investments in Louisiana history, according to the company.
Dallas-based Jacobs was selected to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for the development, working alongside Vertiv, a Westerville, Ohio-based provider of critical digital infrastructure. Hut 8 said J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs will serve as loan underwriters on project-level financing expected to cover up to 85% of the total development cost.
The project adds momentum to Jacobs’ growing data center business. During the company’s most recent fiscal fourth quarter earnings call, CEO Bob Pragada said its data center pipeline has increased fivefold.
“Jacobs brings decades of global expertise in delivering complex infrastructure for advanced facilities to some of the most discerning clients in the world,” Pragada said in the Hut 8 release. “Our collaboration with Hut 8 reflects the shared discipline and ambition needed to deliver a project we believe will become the benchmark for AI infrastructure.”
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Hut 8 said it has already secured an initial 330 megawatts of utility capacity for the River Bend campus from Entergy Louisiana, with the ability to scale by up to an additional 1,000 megawatts. At full buildout, the campus would rank among the largest data center developments globally and significantly expand Louisiana’s role in supporting AI and cloud computing infrastructure.
The River Bend project is the latest in a wave of hyperscale data center construction across the state. Last year, Meta selected Turner Construction, DPR Construction and Mortenson to deliver a separate $10 billion data center project in Richland Parish near Monroe, Louisiana.
State leaders welcomed the latest investment as evidence of Louisiana’s growing competitiveness in attracting large-scale technology and infrastructure developments.
“Louisiana continues to win,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in the release. “Hut 8’s investment in River Bend builds on our track record of attracting global-scale projects in the industries of the future.”
At peak construction, Hut 8 expects approximately 1,000 workers to be onsite, underscoring the project’s near-term economic impact in West Feliciana Parish as well as its long-term role in supporting energy-intensive digital infrastructure.
Originally reported by Sebastian Obando, Reporter in Construction Dive.
