{"id":623613,"date":"2026-06-06T01:01:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623613\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:01:22","slug":"meta-putting-up-tents-across-the-us-to-house-ai-servers-like-a-scene-out-of-the-movie-mad-max-structures-take-three-months-to-build-and-use-jet-engines-for-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623613\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta putting up tents across the US to house AI servers, like \u2018a scene out of the movie Mad Max\u2019 \u2014 structures take three months to build and use jet engines for power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meta has moved from building traditional structures for its data centers to putting up tents across the U.S. and sticking AI servers inside them. Michael Thomas, founder of market intelligence and data center tracking firm Cleanview Energy, said on X<\/a> that the AI tech firm has already built or is in the process of constructing three data centers that use the strategy.<\/p>\n

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One site, located in New Albany, Ohio, already has five buildings that took approximately two to three years to complete. The company then started putting up five tents, with an area of around 125,000 square feet each, in the area. City permits seen by Cleanview Energy say that the construction started in April 2026, while recent satellite images show that the structures have already been completed.<\/p>\n

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg first announced the strategy of pitching tents and filling them with AI servers<\/a> last year. It seems that he wanted the infrastructure to come online quickly while demand for compute is increasing exponentially. It\u2019s said that Meta is inspired by Elon Musk\u2019s feat with xAI, which built a 100,000-strong AI data center in just 19 days<\/a> in 2024 \u2014 something which usually takes four years, according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The technique is apparently quite effective, and it\u2019s now being applied to two other sites, including one in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

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Putting AI servers inside tents, officially called \u201crapid deployment structures,\u201d is one of the more unique approaches to the AI build-out, Thomas said. They\u2019re certainly not as sturdy as physical buildings made from steel and concrete, with one commenter comparing it to the \u201cclassic $10k racing bike with a $9 lock\u201d situation. Nevertheless, the company has probably weighed the pros and cons of such a setup and has decided that it was worth taking the risk to gain an advantage in the AI infrastructure race.<\/p>\n

Another factor that allowed Meta to bring its data centers online at a much faster pace is its use of \u201cbehind-the-meter\u201d power, in which the company installed its own turbines to produce power on-site rather than relying on grid power. This is similar to what Musk did with his Memphis Supercluster, which he initially powered with portable power generators<\/a>. However, Meta\u2019s turbines would be a permanent feature on the Ohio site, as it\u2019s designed to run independently of the power grid.<\/p>\n

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Thomas said that there\u2019s about 2GW of capacity available from behind-the-meter data centers, with an extra 1GW expected to go online this year for a total of 3GW. If on-going projects stay on schedule, the Cleanview report<\/a> says that the total capacity could hit 13GW by the end of 2027 \u2014 about the same amount of power generated by 13 nuclear power plants and more than enough to power NYC.<\/p>\n

This combination of seemingly temporary structures and jet engines strapped to the ground is certainly an interesting combination. As one reporter said, \u201cIt\u2019s like a scene out of the movie Mad Max.\u201d<\/p>\n

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