• About Us
  • Partnership Opportunities
  • Privacy Policy

Data Center Frontier

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing.

  • Cloud
    • Hyperscale
  • Colo
    • Site Selection
    • Interconnection
  • Energy
    • Sustainability
  • Cooling
  • Technology
    • Internet of Things
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Edge Computing
    • Virtual Reality
    • Autonomous Cars
    • 5G Wireless
    • Satellites
  • Design
    • Servers
    • Storage
    • Network
  • Voices
  • Podcast
  • White Papers
  • Resources
    • COVID-19
    • Events
    • Newsletter
    • Companies
    • Data Center 101
  • Jobs
You are here: Home / Cloud / Facebook Has 47 Data Centers Under Construction

Facebook Has 47 Data Centers Under Construction

By Rich Miller - November 10, 2021

Facebook Has 47 Data Centers Under Construction

Construction on Facebook's data center campus in Prineville, Oregon in July 2016. (Photo: Rich Miller)

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

It’s a short statement, deep inside a lengthy review of innovation in Facebook’s digital infrastructure. But for anyone who knows the data center industry, it’s a real eye-opener.

“As I’m writing this, we have 48 active buildings and another 47 buildings under construction,” said Tom Furlong, President of Infrastructure, Data Centers at Meta (formerly Facebook). “So we’re going to have more than 70 buildings in the near future.”

The statement reflects the extraordinary scope of Meta’s global infrastructure expansion. The company has 18 data center campuses around the world, which upon completion will span 40 million square feet of data center space.

Having 47 buildings under construction would be a challenge in any circumstances, but particularly so during a global pandemic and supply chain disruption. It’s not easy, or cheap. Meta says it expects to invest between $29 billion and $34 billion in capital expenditures in 2022, up from $19 billion last year.

It’s not alone, as the largest hyperscale operators are pouring billions of dollars into expanding their data center infrastructure to meet demand for their digital services. Hyperscale capital expenditures were up 30 percent in the first half of 2021, according to an analysis from Synergy Research Group, which tracks 19 hyperscale providers who spent about $83 billion in the six-month period.

Those spending levels could easily increase, in light of Facebook’s projections on future capex spending and Microsoft’s plans to build 50 to 100 data centers a year.

Infrastructure Innovation at Epic Scale

Furlong’s blog post about Meta’s data center journey is worthwhile reading, as is a companion post that looks back at the progress of the Open Compute Project, the open hardware initiative founded by Facebook in 2011.

“Open hardware drives innovation, and working with more vendors means more opportunity to develop next-generation hardware to support current and emerging features across Meta’s family of technologies.,” Furlong writes.

The need to innovate at scale has also including data center construction.

“There is a lot of activity in the data center and construction industries today, which puts pressure on us to find the right sites and partners,” said Furlong. “It also means we need to create more flexible site selection and construction processes. All this effort also involves looking at our vendors and contractors more as partners in all this. We can’t just make this about dollars. We have to make it about performance. We have to make it about driving best practices and continuous improvement.

“But that’s not the way the construction industry typically works,” he continued. “So, we’ve had to bring a lot of our own ideas about running operations and making improvements and impress them on the companies we work with.”

Digital infrastructure is becoming more important every day, and Meta and its hyperscale counterparts are pioneering new strategies to deliver the scale and speed they need. It’s an ongoing process, as Furlong reflects.

“Moving into the data center arena was never going to be easy,” he writes. “But I think we’ve ended up with an amazing program at a scale that I never, ever would have imagined. And we’re always being asked to do more. That’s the business challenge, and it’s probably one of the main things that keep me and my team coming in to work every day. We have this enormous challenge ahead of us to do something that is unbelievably massive at scale.”

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

Tagged With: Data Center Construction, Facebook, Meta

Newsletters

Stay informed: Get our weekly updates!

Are you a new reader? Follow Data Center Frontier on Twitter or Facebook.

About Rich Miller

I write about the places where the Internet lives, telling the story of data centers and the people who build them. I founded Data Center Knowledge, the data center industry's leading news site. Now I'm exploring the future of cloud computing at Data Center Frontier.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Voices of the Industry

Building an Enduring World Begins with Accountability and Defining an Approach for Long-term Success

Building an Enduring World Begins with Accountability and Defining an Approach for Long-term Success TJ Faze, Head of ESG Strategy and Engagement at Vertiv, outlines the company's learnings around its recent ESG efforts.

White Papers

design

Reimagine Enterprise Data Center Design and Operations

Future Facilities explores how digital twin technology can be used to virtualize and fine tune data center design.

Get this PDF emailed to you.

We always respect your privacy and we never sell or rent our list to third parties. By downloading this White Paper you are agreeing to our terms of service. You can opt out at any time.

DCF Spotlight

Data center modules on display at the recent Edge Congress conference in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Rich Miller)

Edge Computing is Poised to Remake the Data Center Landscape

Data center leaders are investing in edge computing and edge solutions and actively looking at new ways to deploy edge capacity to support evolving business and user requirements.

An aerial view of major facilities in Data Center Alley in Ashburn, Virginia. (Image: Loudoun County)

Northern Virginia Data Center Market: The Focal Point for Cloud Growth

The Northern Virginia data center market is seeing a surge in supply and an even bigger surge in demand. Data Center Frontier explores trends, stats and future expectations for the No. 1 data center market in the country.

See More Spotlight Features

Newsletters

Get the Latest News from Data Center Frontier

Job Listings

RSS Job Openings | Pkaza Critical Facilities Recruiting

  • MEP Coordinator - Data Center Construction - Ashburn, VA
  • Data Center Facility Engineer - Chantilly, VA
  • Data Center Site Operations VP - Seattle, WA
  • Senior Electrical Engineer - Data Center - Denver, CO
  • Senior Estimator - Data Center Construction - Denver, CO

See More Jobs

Data Center 101

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Open Spectrum, brings our readers a series that provides an introductory guidebook to the ins and outs of the data center and colocation industry. Think power systems, cooling, solutions, data center contracts and more. The Data Center 101 Special Report series is directed to those new to the industry, or those of our readers who need to brush up on the basics.

  • Data Center Power
  • Data Center Cooling
  • Strategies for Data Center Location
  • Data Center Pricing Negotiating
  • Cloud Computing

See More Data center 101 Topics

About Us

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing. We write about what’s next for the Internet, and the innovations that will take us there. We tell the story of the digital economy through the data center facilities that power cloud computing and the people who build them. Read more ...
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Our Founder

Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution. Meet the DCF team.

TOPICS

  • 5G Wireless
  • Cloud
  • Colo
  • Connected Cars
  • Cooling
  • Cornerstone
  • Coronavirus
  • Design
  • Edge Computing
  • Energy
  • Executive Roundtable
  • Featured
  • Finance
  • Hyperscale
  • Interconnection
  • Internet of Things
  • Machine Learning
  • Network
  • Podcast
  • Servers
  • Site Selection
  • Social Business
  • Special Reports
  • Storage
  • Sustainability
  • Videos
  • Virtual Reality
  • Voices of the Industry
  • Webinar
  • White Paper

Copyright Endeavor Business Media© 2022