Meta’s data center campus in north Huntsville has become one of the company’s favorite locations, according to community engagement lead Henry Thornton, who hosted local media for a tour and Q&A this week.
Thornton said the site stands out for its local leadership, quality of life and hiring success.
“Our Huntsville data center is one of our best in the entire fleet,” Thornton said. “We had an incredible set of local leaders bring us in, and it’s been one of our absolute favorite locations among employees. The hiring here has been incredible, the quality of life in Huntsville is incredible.”
The campus broke ground in 2018 and opened around 2021. An expansion announced in 2022 is nearly complete and will bring the total footprint to nearly 3.5 million square feet. Combined investment across both phases exceeds $1.5 billion.
More than 300 full-time Meta jobs support the facility, along with hundreds of construction workers still on site. Thornton said the company prioritizes local hires and has found strong engineering talent in the area.
“We have a huge priority to hire locally,” he said. “That’s a big, big commitment that we have as a company, and we’ve had a lot of success doing that. There is so much engineering talent here in Huntsville that we’ve been so glad to bring right here to the data center.”
Most of the permanent roles are accessible with an associate’s degree or certificate from local schools. Peak construction earlier employed more than 1,200 people.
On energy, Meta matches every megawatt the facility uses with clean and renewable sources and has signed the ratepayer protection pledge. The company is a direct-serve customer of the Tennessee Valley Authority and does not take power through Huntsville Utilities.
“We match every megawatt we use with clean and renewable energy as part of our ratepayer protection pledge, where we make sure that none of our data centers increase the bills for any local resident,” Thornton said.
He added that Meta pays for renewable projects nationwide — including several solar installations in Alabama — that match the fleet’s usage. The company is also exploring nuclear partnerships.
Water use is another frequent topic. Thornton said the facility is designed for efficiency, with newer sections using closed-loop systems and servers built to handle higher temperatures so cooling is not needed as often. Meta has committed to becoming water positive by 2030 by restoring as many gallons to local watersheds as the data centers use.
“People often have a very misconstrued idea about data centers and water usage,” Thornton said. “We really don’t use that much more than other industrial facilities or perhaps a golf course or something like that. … We work with charities of all types in the communities around our data centers to restore as many gallons to local watersheds as our facilities use.”
The water comes through a partnership with Huntsville Utilities.
Noise has not been an issue, Thornton said. The company has received no complaints related to the data center itself and designs its facilities to stay as quiet as possible.
In April 2025, as a proposed data center in Bessemer faced neighborhood pushback over potential noise, WVTM 13 reporters drove to Meta’s Huntsville campus to measure the sound for themselves. Standing less than 200 yards from one of the buildings, a sound meter registered between 35 and 50 decibels — the range of a quiet library to light rain. Nearby resident Harold Greenleaf told the station, “You can sleep out here on the porch and not even know they’re there, if you wanted to.”
The campus sits in an industrial park, which limited the need for major new infrastructure beyond a substation that Meta paid for.
Thornton said the company uses the Huntsville facility exclusively for its own products — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and AI tools — with no third-party tenants. Data is stored securely and redundantly.
Beyond operations, Meta has invested in the community through grants and partnerships. Recent support includes STEM programming across all Huntsville City Schools middle schools, equipment and cybersecurity work with Drake State and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and sponsorship of local events such as the America’s 250th celebration downtown.
“We’re proud and involved members of the community supporting education and lots of other initiatives all across Madison County,” Thornton said.
He summarized the company’s message this way: “A Meta data center is not going to raise your electricity bill. We are responsible users of water, and we are proud and involved members of the community.”
The expansion is expected to keep the permanent job count around 300. Thornton said there are no current plans for further growth in Huntsville, though that could change.
Zachary Austin is a writer for 256 Today. You can contact him at [email protected].
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