Meta — Altoona, Iowa AI Data Center Campus

Meta’s Altoona, Iowa data center campus is one of the company’s largest and most important AI training facilities in the United States. Located just east of Des Moines in Polk County, the campus has grown substantially since its opening in 2015 and now comprises multiple large data center buildings.

The Altoona campus was Meta’s first data center in Iowa and benefits from MidAmerican Energy’s wind-heavy grid — the utility has committed to 100% renewable electricity for Iowa, making it one of the most renewable-intensive grids in the US. Meta has signed long-term power purchase agreements with Iowa wind farms to power the facility, achieving carbon-free electricity at low cost.

Altoona hosts key infrastructure for Meta’s AI research and production workloads, including Llama large language model training and the AI compute behind Meta’s content recommendation, advertising, and safety systems. The Open Compute Project hardware designs pioneered at Meta’s East Coast facilities have been implemented at scale at Altoona. Meta has invested over $1 billion in the Iowa campus and has been one of the state’s largest private sector investments.