The biggest buildout in America
Texas has 6.5 gigawatts of data center capacity under construction right now -- roughly one-fifth of the entire national pipeline. Over 226 GW of large-load interconnection requests are sitting in ERCOT's queue, nearly quadrupling from 63 GW in December 2024. More than 70% of those requests are data centers.
Google alone has committed $40 billion to the state through 2027 -- its largest investment in any single US state. OpenAI's Stargate campus in Abilene is operational with 1.2 GW targeted by Q4 2026. Vantage is building a $25 billion, 1.4 GW mega-campus in Shackelford County. Fermi America is planning an 11 GW campus near Amarillo.
Texas is on track to surpass Northern Virginia as the world's largest data center market within three years.
The projects
Stargate / OpenAI-Oracle, Abilene: The flagship of a $500 billion national AI buildout. First two buildings operational September 2025 at 200MW+. Phase 2 broke ground March 2026 with six more buildings bringing total capacity to 1.2 GW. 6,000 construction workers on site.
Google, Haskell and Armstrong Counties: Part of a $40 billion Texas investment. Google contracted to add 6,200+ MW of net new energy generation to the grid via power purchase agreements and created a $30 million Energy Impact Fund.
Vantage Frontier, Shackelford County: A $25 billion campus with 1.4 GW planned. First building delivery targeted H2 2026.
Crusoe/Lancium, Abilene: 200 MW data center at the Lancium Clean Campus, first phase of a planned 1.2 GW site.
GW Ranch / Pacifico Energy, Pecos County: Received the largest air pollution permit in the country for up to 7.65 GW of gas power capacity. Behind-the-meter setup that bypasses the ERCOT grid entirely.
Chevron, Permian Basin: Building its first data center power plant. Starting at 2.5 GW, potentially expanding to 5 GW. Power generation targeted for 2027.
Infrakey, near Waco: A $10 billion proposal -- the largest industrial development in McLennan County history.
Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus, near Amarillo: 5,800 acres, 18 million sq ft, 11 GW planned. Developed by the Texas University System and Fermi America.
A billion dollars in subsidies with no transparency
Texas revised its data center subsidy cost projection from $130 million to over $1 billion in just 23 months. The state now loses an estimated $1 billion per year subsidizing data centers.
The JETI Act (Chapter 313's replacement) offers 50% abatements on school district property taxes for 10 years, with up to 75% for projects in opportunity zones. Chapter 312 allows local governments to abate property taxes on new improvements for up to 10 years. Data centers also qualify for a 10-15 year state sales tax exemption.
But here is the accountability gap: Texas reports the names of companies receiving subsidies but does not disclose subsidy amounts, job creation numbers, or facility locations. Nationally, the 11 largest subsidized data centers received public money worth approximately $1.95 million per permanent job created.
399 billion gallons of water by 2030
Texas data centers are projected to consume 49 billion gallons of water by end of 2025, rising to 399 billion gallons by 2030 -- potentially 6.6% of the state's total water usage. That is enough water for 1.3 million average US households.
30% of Texas is currently classified as in drought, with an additional 56% classified as abnormally dry. Despite this, no state legislation limits water usage by data centers. Companies are not even required to disclose how much water they plan to use.
The state has over 400 data center facilities with roughly 70 more on the way, and none of them face enforceable water consumption caps.
Communities fighting back
Hood County, southwest of Fort Worth, received five data center applications in recent months. Commissioners voted down a moratorium twice (3-2 both times). After the second rejection, residents called for commissioner resignations. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt sent a letter to AG Ken Paxton warning that counties have no constitutional authority to impose development moratoriums -- effectively signaling that the state will block local efforts to slow data center growth.
Near Waco, residents gathered over 3,000 petition signatures against Infrakey's $10 billion proposal. They created a Facebook group, held regular strategy meetings, and attracted support from State Rep. Pat Curry. A Republican Senate candidate made data center opposition the centerpiece of her campaign.
In Ross, near College Station, community members packed meetings at the volunteer fire department to oppose a local project. From Amarillo to Harlingen, communities across the state are raising concerns about water, electricity, noise, and quality of life.
House Bill 2559 clarifies that only cities -- not counties -- can impose development moratoriums, leaving rural communities with fewer tools to slow unwanted projects.
The grid cannot keep up
ERCOT's interconnection queue has 226 GW of large-load requests. That exceeds twice the state's record peak summer demand of roughly 85 GW and its total available generation of approximately 103 GW. Over half of the requests have not even submitted studies yet.
The EIA warns data center demand could raise ERCOT wholesale electricity prices by 79% by 2027. ERCOT itself projects 50% higher electricity demand by 2029 and forecasts it may need thousands of miles of new transmission lines costing $30 billion or more.
Senate Bill 6, signed June 2025, requires large energy users (75 MW+) to fund grid upgrades and gives ERCOT the ability to remotely disconnect data centers during grid emergencies. But the cost allocation methodology is not finalized until December 2026.
Meanwhile, companies like Chevron and Pacifico Energy are building massive behind-the-meter gas plants in the Permian Basin that bypass the ERCOT grid entirely -- avoiding SB6's cost-sharing rules while receiving some of the largest air pollution permits in the country.
What you can do
Track every Texas data center project on our interactive map at poweredbywho.com/map. Sign up for alerts and we will notify you when something new happens near your zip code.
If you are in a community facing a data center proposal, attend every public hearing. File public comments. Contact your county commissioners and state legislators. Ask for water usage disclosures, noise studies, and grid impact assessments before any permits are approved.
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