Facebook's parent company, Meta announced plans for a data center in southern Indiana, so what is a data center?

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Meta Data Center

I'll be the first to admit, when it comes to technology I have a very basic understanding of computers and the internet and how this all works.  So when I saw that Meta was building a data center in Indiana,  I needed more information. So I went to Meta's website to get more information and this was all I could find about Meta Data Centers:

Our data centers are part of Meta’s global infrastructure that brings our technologies and services to life. Meta is proud that our data centers are among the most efficient in the world. Learn more about the places and partners that help make our connections possible.

Okay cool.  However, that brief synopsis didn't explain to me what IS a data center.  What does a data center DO?   Again, maybe I'm in the minority here, but my best guess was maybe it had to do with housing servers for Meta, but I still didn't know for sure.

Data Centers are the "Backbone of the Internet"

According to Data Center Dynamics, data centers are buildings that house the "backbone of the internet."

Data centers are where the world’s data is processed, organized and stored.

So my assumption that data centers housed servers was not too far off.  Data Center Dynamics goes on to explain that data centers can be small like a cupboard in an office, but larger companies, need larger servers and room to house them. You can read more about the inner workings of data centers, here.

Meta Data Center in Indiana

On January 25th it was announced that Meta would be building a massive data center in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Jeffersonville is located near Louisville, Kentucky. According to Inside Indiana Business, this new data center will create 100 new jobs for the area.

Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said Thursday it will invest $800 million to establish a data center campus at River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville and create 100 jobs.

The 700,000-square-foot facility will be the company’s 22nd data center in the world and 18th in the United States.

Construction is slated to begin in February with the data center being completed in 2026.