Meta is pursuing a $3 billion (approximately 4.5 trillion won) construction loan to build "Prometheus," a massive 1GW (gigawatt)-scale artificial intelligence data center. The deal marks the first case of bundling a data center building and its own power generation facility together in a single financing package.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Meta has launched efforts to raise funds through a loan package. The package covers the entire complex, including the data center and on-site power generation facilities that use natural gas to produce electricity.
The Prometheus data center is a 1GW cluster composed of multiple data center buildings and is set to begin operations this year. One gigawatt is equivalent to the output of a single nuclear reactor, enough to power approximately one million households simultaneously. Private equity firm EQT plans to operate the data center in New Albany, Ohio.
The loan carries an interest rate set at 2.5 percentage points above the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). The company explained that the rate is higher than other Big Tech-backed projects, reflecting the additional risk of financing a data center and power generation facility simultaneously. A person familiar with the deal said, "It is like dealing with two completely different types of assets at the same time, which made the structure more complex."
Despite the higher rate, the market is showing interest in the deal, thanks to EdgeConneX's track record in executing large-scale projects and EQT's financial backing capability. The deal offers an alternative that could help avoid the financing crunch some fear amid concerns over data center overinvestment. EdgeConneX's major clients include Nvidia, Google, and Oracle. Banks specializing in project finance and large institutional investors are already participating in a syndicated loan to Meta, which is expected to close within weeks.
Meanwhile, Prometheus is planned to operate in "island mode." Island mode refers to a system that immediately switches to independent power sources, such as on-site generation, when the main power grid fails, allowing operations to continue uninterrupted. The data center will have its own microgrid and operate independently from the main power grid for the first several years. Once grid connection becomes available, the option of linking to the main power grid will also be considered.