When even big tech companies are focusing on the construction sector, something is changing. As Xataka reports in his article, Meta, the company behind platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has developed a new concrete formula designed using artificial intelligence with the aim of making construction faster, more efficient and more sustainable.

This advance not only responds to environmental challenges, but also to the need to accelerate the construction of critical infrastructures such as data centers. And most importantly: it has done so with open source tools and with a clear desire to share knowledge with the entire sector.

Concrete is a ubiquitous material: we find it in roads, bridges, buildings… and also in the data centers that support much of our digital world. However, its environmental impact is enormous. Cement production alone accounts for nearly 8% of global CO2 emissions, according to the World Economic Forum.

Reducing this footprint without compromising strength or speed of execution is the goal that Meta has set itself. To make this possible, it has developed a system based on artificial intelligence capable of generating and optimizing new concrete compositions. The model, created in collaboration with cement manufacturer Amrize and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is based on Bayesian optimization techniques and uses open source tools developed by Meta itself.

With this system, which learns from previous results and proposes new improved formulas, the validation process is reduced from weeks to a few days. The model has been tested in a data center under construction in Rosemount (Minnesota), where the new mixture was applied to one of the structural slabs. The results, according to the company, exceeded the usual standards by achieving faster application, optimal strength and an adequate final surface, all with a minimum of human intervention.

Meta has not presented this solution as a closed product. On the contrary, it has published all the code, data and technical approach in an open repository on GitHub (SustainableConcrete), with the intention that other actors in the sector can adapt and reuse this model in new contexts.

From the Barcelona ConTech Hub we see this movement as a clear sign that the construction sector is becoming a key space for technological innovation. It is not just about building better, but doing so with more responsibility, more efficiency and with a vision of the future. Construction, far from being left behind, is consolidating itself as one of the great drivers of technological and sustainable transformation of our time.