BOONE COUNTY

Meta breaks ground on more than $10B data-center campus in Lebanon, promising about 300 operational jobs

On 2026-02-11, Gov. Mike Braun joined Meta executives at a groundbreaking for a more than $10 billion data-center campus in Lebanon’s LEAP District. The 1,500‑acre campus will include 13 buildings, support roughly 300 high‑wage operational jobs when complete and peak construction employment above 4,000, the IEDC said.

News BriefBy BusinessIndy News DeskCommentsPublished February 10, 2026 at 7:00 PM EST

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Meta breaks ground on more than $10B data-center campus in Lebanon, promising about 300 operational jobs — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

On 2026-02-11 the Indiana Economic Development Corporation published a release saying Gov. Mike Braun joined Meta Platforms Inc. executives as the company broke ground on a more than $10 billion data-center campus in Lebanon’s LEAP District. The release says the 1,500‑acre campus will include 13 total buildings, including 10 data-center buildings, plus logistics, warehousing, network and administrative support facilities. Rachel Peterson, Meta’s vice president of data centers, is quoted saying the investment is one of Meta’s largest and central to its AI ambitions. (Source: IEDC release)

The IEDC release states Meta expects the campus to support roughly 300 high‑wage operational jobs once complete and to support more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak. Meta committed more than $1.5 million to Lebanon quality-of-place initiatives and to an annual grant program for career and workforce development, and the release says information on construction and job opportunities is available online. (Source: IEDC release)

WHY IT MATTERS

A major tech company breaking ground on a large data-center campus matters to Indiana residents and local governments for a few clear reasons anchored in the release.

First, the $10 billion-plus investment is primarily capital spending: the release says construction will occur over several phases and will create a large number of short-term construction jobs (the release cites peak employment above 4,000). That means many construction hires while the project is being built, but far fewer permanent on-site positions after completion — the release estimates about 300 high‑wage operational jobs.

Second, the release says Meta is committing more than $1.5 million for local quality-of-place projects and an annual workforce-development grant program. Those commitments, along with the company’s property and other taxes, are the release’s cited mechanisms for the project to affect local schools, nonprofits and the tax base.

What to watch next: the IEDC release identifies phased construction and points readers to online resources for construction and job opportunities; interested residents and contractors should monitor those official postings for hiring notices and project milestones. (Source: IEDC release dated 2026-02-11.)

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Sources

Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC): Gov. Braun Breaks Ground on $10B Meta Data Center Campus at LEAP District ↗

Publication date of the linked source has not been verified. A sourced news brief; no independent staff reporting is implied. Prepared with AI assistance from the linked research; material claims remain attributed in the article.

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