Meta Turns to Industrial Tents to Speed AI Data Center Deployment

Meta is using industrial tents to house AI chips and servers in Ohio as it seeks to shorten construction times for computing infrastructure. Borrowing an approach used by Tesla and xAI, the company can avoid the lengthy construction process required for conventional buildings. It also plans to supplement grid power with modular gas turbines, reflecting the pressure on technology giants competing for computing capacity and energy.

Under Meta's latest plan, a tent-based AI data center could be completed in about six months, roughly six times as fast as a conventional facility, with modular equipment allowing quicker expansion. Reports did not disclose the project's investment, construction start date or formal launch date. The known site is in Ohio, and its primary goal is to rapidly increase AI computing capacity despite constraints on power supplies and construction schedules.