Trump Praises Zuckerberg’s $50 Billion AI Center Project in Louisiana

President Donald Trump used part of his Cabinet meeting Tuesday to spotlight a major new project from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, underscoring America’s growing lead in artificial intelligence and industrial development.

Holding up a printout provided by Zuckerberg, the president pointed to the staggering size of Meta’s new AI data center. “This is something given to me by Mark Zuckerberg,” Trump said, displaying an outline of the facility.

The complex, now under construction in Louisiana, will span more than 2,250 acres—an area Trump described as “81 percent of Manhattan.” The president noted the project is expected to cost $10 billion, though he repeated a figure five times higher to emphasize the scale. “Actually Mark is building four of them,” he added. “But look at that – that’s the size of Manhattan. It takes up a big part of Manhattan. I think they say 81 percent of Manhattan.”

Zuckerberg and Trump have maintained an open line since Trump’s 2024 reelection, with the Meta chief dining at Mar-a-Lago shortly after the victory and visiting again in January 2025. Zuckerberg also purchased a $23 million Washington, D.C., home near the White House at the start of Trump’s second term.

Since then, Meta has pledged billions in U.S. investments following Trump’s sweeping tariffs that have reshaped the global trade landscape. The Louisiana complex will include nine buildings, three natural gas power plants, and massive infrastructure to support AI research.

Trump praised the project, telling his Cabinet: “I built shopping centers and for $50 million you can build a nice shopping center. When they said $50 billion for a plant… I said what the hell kind of plant is that?”

The president added that America is now “leading China on AI.”

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum offered a sobering counterpoint during the meeting, warning of the scale of China’s push in the AI arms race. “China beating us in the AI arms race – that’s an existential threat. We finally have a president who talks about it,” Burgum said. “For the first time in history you can take electricity and you can convert it into intelligence. So it’s flipped – it’s no longer knowledge is power, power is also knowledge. And while we’re ahead on the technology, we’re way behind China on the amount of electricity they’re bringing online.”

Beyond AI, Trump touted the return of manufacturing to American soil, crediting tariffs with pushing auto plants and other facilities out of Mexico, Canada, and Europe. “So factories are booming,” the president said. “And when they actually open, you know – right now they’re booming in terms of construction.”

But Trump also moved to another priority this week: protecting the nation’s most sacred symbol. On Monday, the president signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to prosecute anyone who burns or desecrates the American flag, while preparing a legal strategy to challenge the 1989 Supreme Court ruling in Texas v. Johnson that struck down flag protection laws.

“You burn a flag, you get one year in jail. You don’t get 10 years. You don’t get one month. You get one year in jail. And it goes on your record, and you will see flag burning stopping immediately,” Trump declared.

He added: “The American flag is the most sacred and cherished symbol of the United States of America, and desecrating it is uniquely and inherently offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt and hostility toward our Nation, and an act used by groups of foreign nationals calculated to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans.”

With the dual message of advancing American technological dominance and defending national honor, Trump reminded the nation of his governing philosophy: strength at home, sovereignty abroad, and unwavering pride in the flag that unites us.