Are tech giants building underground bunkers to prepare for Dooms Day?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan plan to construct a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker on their Hawaii ranch with energy and food, fuelling conspiracy theories about Dooms Day preparations among US citizens, The US Sun reported.

According to a Wired investigation, published earlier this month, the tech billionaire’s shelter on Kauai’s Ko’olau Ranch will feature metal doors filled with concrete, similar to bunkers and bomb shelters.

The 1,400-acre compound, which includes over a dozen buildings with at least 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms, based on planning documents acquired by Wired, includes two stand-alone mansions, 11 treehouses, a fitness centre, guest houses, and operations buildings.

Additionally, construction and other workers on the property were reportedly made to sign strict non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), TIME reported.

According to Wired, regardless of the reason behind the construction, the new Zuckerberg-Chan property is expected to cost north of $270 million, including land.

While the purpose of an underground shelter in Kauai County remains unclear, locals have highlighted that 15 billionaires including co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have been rumoured to be currently in the process of building bunkers but it hasn’t been confirmed.

However, two billionaires, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, are exploring the possibility of bringing humans to space in free-floating pods.