Meta Building Tent Data Centers Tesla-Style for AI

The AI race has taken an unexpected turn: Meta has started using special tents to build data centers, drawing on experience from Tesla and xAI. According to data identified by Cleanview founder Michael Thomas, the company has erected six giant tents—"rapid deployment structures"—in New Albany, Ohio. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

This strategy serves to halve construction time. In an interview last year, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned plans to house multi-gigawatt data centers in weather-resistant tents. Satellite imagery and local permits confirm that Meta has completed five large facilities, each spanning 125,000 square feet, in a short period.

This approach recalls Tesla erecting tents at its Fremont factory residential area to accelerate Model 3 production. Meta is using modular gas turbines, similar to xAI, to power the project. High-performance chips worth billions of dollars will be installed inside these tents.

Currently, Meta is facing difficulties in delivering its AI models to developers. According to the Wall Street Journal, although the Muse Spark model is ready, delays have been observed in API systems. The company plans to spend up to $145 billion on data centers, and using tents allows for some cost savings.