Texas Data Center Gold Rush Reaches Fever Pitch

As the Texas data center development craze inches closer to a fever pitch, so does the opposition from local citizens.

“I’m going to do everything I can to fill up [state-level] committee chambers with pissed off people ‘cause I’m tired of it; because they’re filling my chamber with pissed off people. So I’m directing them where to go,” Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden told the Austin Business Journal.

Caldwell County — a growing but still somewhat rural county within the Austin-San Antonio corridor — is staring down the barrel of at minimum, four data centers and at least $20 billion in investment over the next five years, according to the outlet. Tract, Edged Energy, Prime Data Centers and PowerHouse Data Centers are all confirmed to be ramping up operations in the area, and Haden told the outlet that there are more potentially moving in next door.

New developments in the data center blitz into Texas arise almost daily, whether it’s Elon Musk’s burgeoning fiefdom across Central Texas, Amazon Data Services snapping up 1,300 acres for potential data centers, or others trying to get in on the new gold rush, there’s little signs of development slowing.

The future of the data center boom is set to follow a common thread in Texas politics. Some local governments have pushed back on data center development in the region, but ultimately, the power rests in the state legislature, which shows no sign of regulating the AI stampede. The Texas Legislature won’t meet again until next year and there’s little hope for pro-regulation efforts that the legislature will do anything substantial to protect local communities.

Chief among the opponents of data center development’s concerns are the usage of water and power. According to the outlet, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas says it’s looking at roughly 410 gigawatts of large loads seeking new connections to the state’s notoriously shaky electrical grid managed by the agency, according to the publication, and 87 percent is for data centers.

— Hunter Cooke