Ernst & Young Flags Meta’s Massive $27B Louisiana Data Center Deal in 2026

Big Four auditor sounds alarm on tech giant's latest infrastructure splurge.

The Numbers Game

Ernst & Young's scrutiny lands squarely on the $27 billion price tag—a figure that would make even the most bullish crypto whale blink. The deal, one of the largest single infrastructure commitments in recent corporate history, represents a staggering capital outlay for computing power and energy capacity.

Energy & Infrastructure Gambit

Louisiana's power grid and tax incentives form the backbone of the proposal. The state is betting its industrial future on becoming a next-gen tech hub, while Meta doubles down on its AI and metaverse ambitions. It's a classic play: use cheap energy and public subsidies to fuel private data empires.

Regulatory & Financial Shadows

The flag from EY isn't a full stop—it's a caution light. Auditors are trained to spot risk, and a deal of this scale throws up plenty: long-term utility commitments, environmental impacts, and the ever-present specter of shifting tech demand. Remember when everyone built server farms for the cloud? Now it's all about AI. Tomorrow? Who knows.

The Bottom Line

Meta's bet is a $27B wager that future data demands will only grow. EY's job is to ask if the company—and Louisiana's taxpayers—are getting the right odds. In the high-stakes casino of big tech infrastructure, even the house gets audited. Sometimes, the smartest move in finance is knowing when a deal is too big to be true.

Meta’s $46 billion hidden risk revealed

The auditor said figuring out who really controls the venture was “especially challenging” because it required complex judgment calls about which company has the power to make the most important decisions.

According to Meta’s financial filing as seen by Cryptopolitan, the company put in $4.30 billion worth of assets when the venture started and got back a one-time payment of $2.55 billion. Meta owns 20% of the venture and handles the construction management and day-to-day operations.

But Meta’s financial commitments go much deeper. The company has agreed to rent space in the data centers for about $12.31 billion total, with leases starting in 2029. Each lease lasts four years but can be extended up to 20 years.

Meta has also made financial guarantees worth up to $28 billion. If Meta decides to walk away from a lease, it might have to pay the difference between what the property is actually worth and what it guaranteed to be worth.

When you add everything up, Meta’s ownership stake, the lease agreements, future funding promises, and financial guarantees, Meta could be on the hook for up to $45.95 billion if things go wrong.

Meta says it doesn’t have to show the venture’s assets and debts on its own financial statements because it’s not the “primary beneficiary” of the entity. But that claim is debatable. Meta knows how to run data centers for AI. Blue Owl just provides money. Whether this venture succeeds will come down to Meta’s decisions and know-how, not Blue Owl’s.

Meta is spending so heavily because the AI race feels like an existential fight for big tech companies.   The company believes whoever builds the biggest AI infrastructure wins the market, just as other tech giants are spending hundreds of billions on their own data center buildouts.

If AI companies can’t generate enough revenue to cover their massive debt loads, the fallout could hit everyday Americans. Warren’s letter warned that “destabilizing losses for an interconnected set of financial institutions” could trigger a broader crisis that “crush retirement savers and retail investors exposed to the AI industry.” The senators gave regulators until February 13 to respond.

Meta’s continued spending suggests it believes AI will eventually pay off, but the clock is ticking. With construction timelines stretching into 2028 and beyond, these companies need AI applications to start making serious money before the bills come due.

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