Meta said on Wednesday it was breaking ground on a US$10 billion data centre in Indiana, as it races to secure the massive amounts of computing power needed to support its artificial intelligence ambitions.

The facility is designed to deliver 1 gigawatt of capacity once operational, Meta said. According to US power grid operators, that is the equivalent of powering about 800,000 homes.

Meta said in November that it will invest $600-billion in US infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, including data centres.