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An energy infrastructure provider is moving forward with a multimillion-dollar data center project in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, marking another megaproject win for the Bayou State.
Hut 8, a Miami-based company, reported that the first phase of construction is underway at its River Bend data center campus. valued at approximately $10 billionaccording to a press release. The energy infrastructure company said it expects the facility to begin operations in the second quarter of 2027.
Dallas-based Jacobs will serve as a engineering, procurement and construction management partner for the project, in partnership with Vertiv, a critical digital infrastructure provider based in Westerville, Ohio, according to a separate press release from Hut 8. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs will act as loan underwriters on the project-level financing that is expected to cover up to 85% of total costs.
The win adds to that of Jacobs growing portfolio of data centerswhich CEO Bob Pragada said has grown fivefold during the company’s latest fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call.
“Jacobs brings decades of global experience in delivering complex infrastructure for advanced facilities to some of the world’s most demanding customers,” Pragada said in Hut 8’s statement. “Our collaboration with Hut 8 reflects the shared discipline and ambition needed to deliver a project that we believe will become the benchmark for AI infrastructure.”
Hut 8 has secured an initial 330 megawatts of utility capacity for the campus from Entergy Louisiana, with the potential to scale up to an additional 1,000 megawatts of utility capacity. At that magnitude, the project would rank among the largest data center campuses in the world and among the largest private equity projects in Louisiana history, according to Hut 8.
The Hut 8 project adds to a growing portfolio of hyperscale data center construction activity in Louisiana. For example, around this time last year, Meta tapped New York-based Turner Construction, Redwood City, Calif.-based DPR, and Minneapolis-based Mortenson to build a $10 billion data center in Richland Parish near Monroe, Louisiana.
“Louisiana keeps winning,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in the statement. “Hut 8’s investment in River Bend builds on our track record of attracting world-class projects in the industries of the future.”
At peak construction activity, Hut 8 expects about 1,000 construction workers on site, according to the release.
