Texas AI data center boom hits speed bump with Democratic sweep
democrats won texas senate and governor races, threatening big tech's ai buildouts in the state, which has been the fastest-growing data center market in the us.
texas has been the fastest-growing data center market in the us, with massive ai infrastructure projects underway, including the stargate frontier data center in shackelford county, projected to serve 1,820 megawatts, and nexus hubbard, intended mostly to serve anthropic, with a planned size of 6,400 megawatts. however, a democratic sweep in state elections, with james talarico winning the us senate seat and gina hinojosa winning the governor's race, may jeopardize these projects. hinojosa supported tax breaks for data centers in 2023 but began pushing for a moratorium during her campaign. this shift in texas comes as voters nationwide express concerns about data centers' impact on electricity bills, with many supporting efforts to protect ratepayers and some favoring bans on new data centers.