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10th December 2021, Dublin, Ireland. The newly named Meta and Facebook European headquarters in Dublin’s Grand Canal Square. Meta has launched a $155 million pilot training program for data center construction workers in four U.S. cities.<\/p>\n
Derick Hudson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
This tech giant is already deep into the data center boom<\/a>\u2014and now it’s calling on Houstonians to help expand it.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Meta Platforms Inc.<\/a>\u2014the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram and Meta AI\u2014has launched a new training initiative aimed at preparing data center construction technicians, with Houston among four pilot cities.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The $115 million effort, created in partnership with the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), is a five-week program called America’s Workforce Academy that ends with a guaranteed job offer from contractors on Meta projects, according to a recent Meta news release.<\/p>\n In its first year, the pilot program is launching at ABC training centers in Houston and three other key markets: Baton Rouge, Columbus and Indianapolis. While the rise of artificial intelligence and the data center boom have drawn growing scrutiny\u2014both across Texas and nationwide<\/a>\u2014company officials are pitching the program as a patriotic positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Can Texas’ identity outlast the data center takeover?<\/a><\/p>\n Laying ‘the fiber that secures American strength’<\/p>\n Meta referred to the $115 million investment as “the largest private-sector commitment to the skilled trades with a job guarantee in American history.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time. They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II,” Dina Powell McCormick, Meta president and vice-chairman, said in the release. “Now a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.”<\/p>\n Meta and ABC have also partnered with the National Urban League, CBRE and several community agencies. Organizers say the program will help mitigate an ongoing shortage in the construction industry.<\/p>\n “The sustained demand for data construction technicians means the industry needs an all-of-the-above approach to address this shortage and grow the construction talent pool,” Michael Bellaman, ABC president and CEO, said in the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But, the cost-free training program isn’t just relevant to data center construction, organizers argue.<\/p>\n Graduates of the program will earn both the National Center for Construction Education and Research credential and an America’s Workforce certificate\u2014both designed to help trainees work across employers and industry sectors, according to the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n “These new entrants may be beginning their careers on data center projects, but by learning multiple competencies, are starting a life-long career in construction with near limitless potential,” Bellaman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The program launch follows Meta’s fiber installation training program, Level-Up, which was unveiled in April. The company said it received 35,000 applications in the first seven days. Meta said that program would also fill a “critical skills gap,” training fiber technicians over a four-week program.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Construction workers build out the rooftop chillers and water lines feeding them atop Dallas TX4, which is under construction at the\u00a0NTT Data center campus in Garland, Texas, March 4, 2026. A new $115 million Meta program aims to train data center construction workers.<\/p>\n The Dallas Morning News\/Hearst N\/The Dallas Morning News via Gett<\/p>\n An update on data centers in Texas<\/p>\n The United States accounts for 4,346 data centers, with 470 in Texas alone, according to the most recent data from Data Center Map<\/a>. The Lone Star State is on track to become the global leader for data centers by 2030.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As of late April, Meta owned and operated 32 data centers worldwide, including 28 in the U.S. At least two Meta data centers are established in Texas: one in Fort Worth and another in Temple.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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