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Meta puts El Paso construction inside a $14 billion venture
Meta reported 2,300 workers onsite in July. The financing deal covers buildings, power, cooling and connectivity, with capacity expected online in 2028.
Meta's El Paso data center was already a construction job when the owner announced a new financing arrangement in July. Meta reported more than 2,300 workers onsite, with construction employment expected to exceed 4,000 at peak.
That gives West Texas contractors something firmer than an announcement of future jobs. It is a dated count of people working at the site. It is not an October headcount or a list of open positions.
What changed
Meta's announcement describes a venture with funds managed by BlackRock. The funds will own 80% and Meta 20%. The parties expect roughly $14 billion in development costs for the buildings and their power, cooling and connectivity infrastructure.
The release also describes more than $10 billion in investment from Meta. Those figures cover overlapping parts of the project. Adding them together would overstate the work.
Meta will provide construction management and be the initial sole occupant. The planned campus capacity is one gigawatt, with capacity expected to begin coming online in 2028.
Why the contracting details matter
A financing partner is not necessarily the company buying an electrical package. An estimator needs the entity issuing the contract, the party approving changes and the process for payment. The ownership announcement does not identify every subcontract buyer or available bid.
The scope extends beyond building shells. Power, cooling and connectivity each need a schedule that reaches acceptance. For an electrical or controls firm, that means getting equipment delivery and system turnover dates before reserving crews. For a fiber or rack deployment firm, room readiness matters more than the campus's overall investment figure.
Hiring and training
Meta says the site participates in America's Workforce Academy, with graduates placed with a Meta partner at one of its data center sites. A separate BlackRock initiative expects to train more than 12,000 electricians nationally over three years. That national target is not an El Paso hiring count.
Neither program replaces a foreman's assessment of what a new hire can do. Contractors should check the course, employer, site assignment and supervision required before treating a graduate as an experienced installer.
Use the Texas pay research as a benchmark when comparing offers. The project release does not establish an El Paso wage scale, current vacancies or unawarded packages.
