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Louisiana is having a remarkable year for economic development. With our state ranking #1 in the nation in announced economic development investment, companies from across the country and around the world are taking a new look at Louisiana. Major investments in manufacturing, technology, energy and infrastructure are creating opportunities across the state, and one of the fastest-growing pieces of that story is the development of artificial intelligence and data centers.
The data center pipeline alone demonstrates just how much momentum Louisiana has built. We now have at least six major confirmed or high confidence data center developments or programs moving forward or being actively developed, including Meta Hyperion in Richland Parish,
Amazon/STACK’s three campus Northwest Louisiana program, Hut 8 River Bend in West Feliciana Parish, Applied Digital’s Delta Forge 1 in Rapides Parish, and the early-stage Project Cayman concept in Ascension Parish. Confirmed disclosed investment from these projects already totals at least $71.6 billion, with billions more possible from projects where the full investment has not yet been announced.
What may be even more encouraging is that the pipeline continues to grow. Beyond the announced and high-confidence projects, additional data center opportunities are being discussed or marketed in Livingston and Calcasieu Parishes, including an 800-plus-acre data center campus opportunity in the Lake Charles area and separate reports involving Moss Bluff. These projects remain unconfirmed and should be treated that way, but the growing number of rumored and early-stage projects tells us something important: developers are looking at Louisiana.
This is Louisiana progress. Investments that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago are now being announced across our state, and each successful project makes Louisiana more competitive for the next one. We have the land, natural resources, infrastructure, workforce and opportunity to become one of America’s leading destinations for the next generation of industry and technology. But continuing that progress will require us to keep investing in the infrastructure that makes economic development possible, especially energy. Economic development demands energy development. You can’t have one without the other.
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