Just when you thought the race for AI data centres couldn't get more absurd, Meta has built data centres in tents. Literally. The strategy is borrowed in equal parts from Tesla and xAI - and the sole aim is to halve the construction time.

According to Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, which tracks data-centre construction, Meta has put up six „rapid-deployment structures” - tents, really - next to New Albany in Ohio. The idea isn't entirely new; Mark Zuckerberg spoke last year about a plan to use weather-resistant tents for multi-gigawatt data centres. What's new is the speed. According to building permits, Meta started building five tents of 11,600 square metres each between April and June, and satellite images show they're all already built.

The tents are reminiscent of the ones Tesla put up in the car park outside its Fremont factory while it rushed to launch the Model 3. The site is also powered by 200 megawatts of modular gas turbines nearby - a tactic popularised by rival xAI. Inside the canvas, AI chips probably worth billions of dollars will do their job under a tarp.

The picture is ironic because Meta is otherwise struggling. According to a report, the latest model, Muse Spark, is ready, but the interfaces developers need to use it keep being delayed. And the bill is enormous: the company announced it would spend up to 145 billion dollars on data centres and other infrastructure. The stock market isn't impressed - the share has fallen 5 percent this year. Putting chips in a tent is one way to cut the bill. The question is whether investors will see it as genius or as a sign of panic.