Meta data center to use an AI-optimized concrete mix for enhanced strength and efficiency

In the Twin Cities suburb of Rosemount, Minn., Meta is building an $800 million, 715,000-sf data center that will use an AI-optimized concrete mix developed in collaboration with Amrize. Constructed by Mortenson, the data center is scheduled to open in 2026.

Amrize’s customized concrete, ECOPact, has been designed to provide enhanced strength, durability, thermal regulation, and energy efficiency. (Holcim completed the spin-off of its North American business Amrize in June.)

The concrete mix will achieve a 35% reduction in the data center’s carbon footprint, according to Rodrigo Gallardo, Senior Vice President, Aggregates and Construction Materials, US Central Region at Amrize. The mix also demonstrated a 9.5% reduction in shrinkage and reached 4,000 PSI (pounds per square inch) 43% faster than the original slab mix.

To develop the concrete mix, Meta created a proprietary AI model that analyzed performance data, while Amrize provided real-world material data and local sourcing information. The AI model evaluated hundreds of possible mix permutations to identify a formula that would meet project specifications, lower the carbon footprint, and maintain cost-effectiveness. 

Meta and Amrize partnered with the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to create the data for the AI model. Amrize supplied the core materials used in lab testing, such as aggregates, binders, and admixtures, and worked with UIUC researchers on interpreting the material and performance tests and validating the mix’s performance at scale. 

Meta’s AI model used the test data to improve its predictive accuracy and ensure the mix design was “both lab validated and field ready,” Gallardo said.

“AI-driven mix design lets us optimize concrete for performance, cost, and carbon in one step,” Illinois Grainger Engineering professor Nishant Garg, who led the data-generation effort in his lab, said in a statement.

The resulting mix met all the technical and environmental goals for the data center’s slab-on-grade foundation.

“Our work with Meta went far beyond material supply. We partnered from mix design through performance validation to help realize a more sustainable, digitally optimized facility,” Gallardo said. “It’s one of the largest and most advanced data center infrastructure projects in the region, and Amrize is proud to be at the heart of it.”