Meta is moving ahead with a $1 billion investment in a new 700,000-square-foot data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and has selected Minneapolis-based Mortenson as its general contractor. The facility will become Meta’s 30th global data center and 26th in the U.S., according to a Nov. 12 announcement.
Steve Knighton, vice president and general manager for Mortenson’s data center operations, confirmed to Construction Dive that the firm will lead construction for the massive campus.
Mortenson intends to rely on an unusually high degree of digital construction technologies. The project will incorporate BIM coordination, live digital underground utility mapping, drone data capture, robotic automated layout, and Meta Quest VR tools that allow stakeholders to preview and review the facility “with VR reviews of the project.”
The push for high-tech building methods reflects accelerating pressure for more complex data center delivery as companies like Meta compete to support growing AI and streaming demand.
Meta’s release emphasized that the campus will use dry-cooling systems, which will enable the facility to “eliminate water demand for cooling once operation begins.” To address community concerns, Meta also pledged to restore 100% of the water consumed by the data center to local watersheds, a notable promise as residents of Beaver Dam have voiced worries regarding water use. The company said it will additionally restore 570 acres of wetlands and prairie around the development site.
As water consumption by digital infrastructure becomes more contested — especially in states like Arizona and California — Meta’s design choices suggest a growing need for environmentally conscious facility planning that aligns with regional water priorities.
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Beyond building the center, Meta plans to underwrite nearly $200 million in energy infrastructure, covering new utility substations, power upgrades, and grid support required to operate the data center. The scale mirrors trends identified by major firms such as AECOM, which have noted that data center development is driving a surge in power station construction.
This aligns with broader industry momentum: about one in seven contractors now hold data center work, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors survey. Firms with data center portfolios carry significantly higher backlogs than those without such contracts, underscoring the sector’s outsized growth compared to other nonresidential markets.
Meta expects the Beaver Dam facility to be completed in 2027, a company spokesperson confirmed. The timeline places it squarely in a period of intense AI investment, where global tech firms are racing to expand data storage, cloud services and sustainable digital infrastructure.
This latest build demonstrates that companies like Meta see future AI demands not just as technological requirements, but as regional economic drivers capable of shaping power systems, water policy and construction employment.
Originally reported Sebastian Obando in Construction Dive.
