According to news on April 5, Meta is seeking a construction loan of approximately US$3 billion to build a large-scale artificial intelligence data center project called “Prometheus”. The project is 1 GW in size and packages data center facilities with independent power generation systems in the same financing structure.
The financing package reportedly covers not only the data center building but also on-site power generation facilities. The project plans to provide power to the data center through natural gas power generation, thus reducing dependence on the external grid.
The Prometheus data center is located in New Albany, Ohio, USA, and is operated by private equity firm EQT. The entire project consists of multiple data center buildings, with a total computing power of 1GW. This power level is roughly equivalent to the power generation capacity of a nuclear reactor and can provide electricity for about 1 million homes.
In terms of financing structure, the loan interest rate is set at 2.5 percentage points higher than the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Market participants said the interest rate is relatively higher compared to projects backed by other large technology companies because the financing structure involves both data center assets and power generation facilities, making the overall deal more complex.
Despite the higher financing costs, the market still shows some interest in the project. EdgeConneX, the data center operator participating in the project construction, has experience in large-scale infrastructure projects in the past, and EQT also has strong financial support capabilities.
Industry insiders believe that in the context of rapid growth in global demand for AI computing power, this type of project is also seen as a model to ease the financing pressure on future data centers.
Prometheus data centers also plan to operate in so-called "island mode." This model means that the data center has an independent microgrid system that can immediately switch to local power sources in the event of a main grid failure to maintain continuous operation. In the early stages of the project, the data center is expected to rely mainly on its own power generation system. In the future, if conditions are mature, it will consider connecting to the public power grid.