"At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America's future," the tech giant said
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NEED TO KNOW
- Meta announced the launch of America’s Workforce Academy, a free program that trains workers to construct AI data centers
- Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas will serve as this year’s pilot locations
- The initiative comes as development of data centers is rapidly expanding across the country
Amid the controversy surrounding AI data centers, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is now looking to train future workers to build them under a new initiative that ultimately promises jobs.
Partnering with the National Urban League, the Associated Builders and Contractors, CBRE and others, the tech giant announced the launch of America's Workforce Academy on Monday, June 8.
About $115 million has been invested in the program's first year with Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas as the 2026 pilot locations, Meta said.
“The United States labor market needs hundreds of thousands of fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trade workers,” the company said. “At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America's future.”
Meta said that America's Workforce Academy program is free and open to “qualified veterans, recent graduates, career changers and other new entrants to the trades from all 50 states,” adding that no prior experience is required.
The company said that it is funding all costs associated with the program, “with its operating partner administering the program to provide candidates with tuition, airfare, lodging, and a daily stipend during training.”
The program lasts five weeks, and a Meta data center construction job is guaranteed upon completion, Meta said, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“The AI revolution is bringing change but also historic opportunities. Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time,” Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said in a statement. “They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II. Now a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.”
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According to Data Center Map, there are currently 4,346 data centers in the United States.
Yet amid the boom, there has been pushback across the country, with residents voicing concerns about the centers' negative impacts to their health and the environment. There have even been campaigns against proposed developments in some communities.
Meta's Workforce Academy program comes after the company recently laid off 8,000 employees as billions of dollars are being invested for data center costs, the Journal reported.
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