Texas Data Center Intel

Recent Texas data center news

• Dec 17, 2025

  The next big shifts in AI workloads and hyperscaler strategies

  McKinsey & Company outlines how AI-driven workloads are forcing US hyperscalers to redesign data center strategies, power sourcing, and campus architectures while rapidly scaling capacity.

  • AI demand is expected to expand US data center power capacity from ~30+ GW (2025) to 90+ GW (2030, ~22% CAGR), with inference workloads growing at 35% CAGR to >90 GW and training at 22% CAGR to >60 GW, driving shifts toward high-density, liquid-cooled, AI-ready campuses, modular builds, and tier 2 markets where power, land, and permitting are more accessible and faster.
  • Hyperscalers are restructuring capital and infrastructure models, including JVs, special-purpose vehicles, lease‑to‑own deals, behind‑the‑meter power (e.g., New APR Energy’s 100 MW+ mobile gas turbines), and hydrogen-powered microgrid campuses, while retrofitting existing sites at $4–7M/MW for co‑locators and $20–30M/MW for hyperscalers to support GPU‑intensive AI and consolidating into multifacility campuses projected to represent ~70% of deployments by 2030.
• Dec 17, 2025

  ‘A technology company that delivers electricity’: A talk with NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum

  NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum outlines how the company will meet rapidly growing North American electricity demand—especially from data centers—through an all-of-the-above strategy including renewables, storage, gas, and nuclear, plus a new nuclear partnership with Google.

  • Data center hubs & power build-out: About one-third of US power demand growth is from data centers, with hyperscaler campuses growing from 1,000 to 5,000 acres (~1 GW per 1,000 acres); NextEra positions itself to co-develop on-site solar and storage for faster interconnection, then follow with gas-fired and advanced nuclear generation, with example capex of “over $20 billion” on the power side versus hyperscalers’ “north of $100 billion” for a 5,000‑acre campus.
  • Nuclear, grid resilience, storage & AI siting tools: NextEra will recommission the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa under a 25‑year PPA with Google, expecting $9 billion in local economic impact, while FPL has invested $62 billion (2013–2023) to harden Florida’s grid (gas and nuclear build-out, undergrounding distribution, steel/concrete poles) and is scaling 4‑hour storage to 8‑hour by 2029–2030, using AI-powered siting algorithms and a digital twin of the transmission grid to choose optimal locations for data centers and new energy infrastructure.
• Dec 16, 2025

  Virginia regulators weigh expanded use of data centers’ polluting generators

  The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued guidance expanding the definition of an “emergency” to potentially allow data centers to run Tier II diesel backup generators during certain planned utility outages.

  • Main action: DEQ’s Sept. 30 memo from Mike Dowd to Director Michael Rolband would treat some planned outages (notice provided within 14 days or less) as “sudden and reasonably unforeseeable” events, allowing use of Tier II diesel generators that are currently limited to emergencies; the guidance is under public review with environmental groups requesting a 30-day extension to comment and the change would still be under review when Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger takes office in January.
  • Background & details: The article cites about 9,000 generators in Virginia (≈8,000 Tier II, about 4,700 in Loudoun County); a legislative report estimated a worst-case 9,000 tons of nitrogen oxides from backup generators in the region. Drivers include over 100 planned transmission upgrades and federal initiatives (DOE’s Speed to Power Initiative cites 17.6 GW of planned data center capacity across five Virginia counties). DEQ said interested parties requested the guidance and that sources must still meet permitted emission limits.
• Dec 16, 2025

  How Data Centers Became the Hidden Backbone of Our Modern World

  Stepchange Ventures’ co-founders, writing in the MCJ Newsletter, outline how data centers have evolved into critical infrastructure, how AI is driving unprecedented power demand, and why this creates both grid constraints and opportunities for more sustainable, abundant energy and compute.

  • Data centers emerged from early internet hubs like MAE-East and One Wilshire into hyperscale regions such as Ashburn, Virginia, where data-center-zoned land can reach $6M per acre, while overbuilt fiber networks and subsequent advances like virtualization, cloud (EC2 in 2006), containers, and serverless steadily increased hardware utilization and enabled Web 2.0 and hyperscale cloud growth.
  • Power efficiency innovations—including PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) invented by Christian Belady (typical mid-2000s PUE ≈ 2.5, pushed toward 1.1 by hyperscalers) allowed internet traffic to grow 17x (2010–2020) with relatively flat energy use, but the rise of AI GPUs and 5GW-scale builds now creates 10–100x more power-hungry data centers, intersecting with broader load growth from industrial expansion and electrification, and prompting calls to reengineer chips, grids, and infrastructure for an abundant, sustainable era.
• Dec 16, 2025

  Fortify Finance IT with Secure VDI Endpoints

  Dell Technologies is promoting Dell Thin client solutions powered by ThinOS and Wyse Management Suite as secure, centrally managed endpoints for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) in financial services.

  • ThinOS provides a closed, minimal-attack-surface OS that keeps all sensitive data in the data center, reduces the need for third-party antivirus, supports regulatory compliance, and lowers total cost of ownership through simplified security management.
  • Wyse Management Suite offers a unified console for automated deployment, configuration, and monitoring of thousands of thin clients across trading floors, branches, and call centers, with role-based access, built-in compliance controls, and secure communications, and Dell is directing readers to an on-demand webinar for further best practices and product details.
• Dec 16, 2025

  US ROUNDUP: Shell immersion cooling partnership, PNNL begins utility-scale battery tests, ON.Energy in 5GW transformer deal

  EticaAG has partnered with Shell to integrate Shell’s MIVOLT ester-based dielectric liquids into EticaAG’s immersion-cooled BESS; PNNL has begun 100kW utility-scale battery testing at the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL); ON.Energy signed a 5GW transformer supply agreement with Prolec GE to support AI UPS deployments starting in 2026.

  • Main announcements:EticaAG + Shell will combine EticaAG’s non-flammable immersion cooling with Shell’s MIVOLT ester-based dielectric liquids for commercial, industrial, grid-scale and mission-critical BESS; PNNL’s GSL is now testing up to 100kW systems (facility construction began 2022; cost quoted at US$75 million; dedication Aug 2024) and will first test an Invinity VRFB; ON.Energy signed a 5GW transformer supply agreement with Prolec GE to enable deployment of ON.Energy’s AI UPS across data-centre campuses from 2026.
  • Background and details:GSL testing addresses previous limits below 10kW and will evaluate services such as peak shaving and frequency regulation; Invinity’s partnership with Guangxi UESNT aims to reduce VRFB costs; ON.Energy previously secured a US$77.6 million construction credit agreement (Pathward, NA and BridgePeak Energy Capital) to develop a 160MWh Palo de Agua BESS portfolio across Texas (multiple 9.9MW/20MWh projects).
• Dec 16, 2025

  Renewable energy is key to powering Texas data centers

  Google announced it plans to construct three new data centers in Texas at a cost of $40 billion.

  • Main announcement & implementation details: Google will build three new data centers in Texas at an estimated $40 billion and has committed a $30 million Energy Impact Fund to scale energy initiatives; the company reports more than 6,200 megawatts of new generation and capacity contracted via power purchase agreements. The OpenAI/Oracle Stargate campus near Abilene has its first two buildings operational and the remaining six buildings are expected to be completed by mid-2026.
  • Context, background and project metrics: Texas currently has 375 data centers operating and 70 under construction (Baxtel); ERCOT saw large-load interconnection requests rise from 56 GW (Sept 2024) to 205 GW one year later. Renewables growth includes nearly 877–900 solar projects under development in Texas, >200% increase in ERCOT solar capacity over four years, and 8 TWh of wind/solar curtailed in 2024 due to transmission limits. The SEIA warns federal permitting changes are slowing some solar and storage projects.
• Dec 15, 2025

  Environmental Activists Abandon Persuasion For Litigation

  Greenpeace International has filed an “anti-SLAPP” suit in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer after a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable and ordered roughly $660 million in damages; separately, California’s attorney general and environmental groups sued ExxonMobil over alleged contributions to plastic pollution in September 2024.

  • Main action: Greenpeace International filed an anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer after a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for defamation, property damage, and civil conspiracy and ordered roughly $660 million in damages; the author frames this as an attempt to escape responsibility following the domestic verdict.
  • Background and additional details: In September 2024California’s attorney general and environmental groups sued ExxonMobil over single-use plastics despite ExxonMobil’s claims it does not manufacture single-use plastics and has processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into raw materials; the piece also references a 2024 YouGov poll showing 73% of voters rank price and availability of energy as top concerns and warns that litigation could hinder energy supply needed for AI-driven data centers.
• Dec 13, 2025

  TCU Launches $10M AI² Initiative With Dell to Scale Campuswide Use

  Texas Christian University (TCU) has announced the launch of AI², a $10 million initiative to expand secure AI research computing, strengthen interdisciplinary research, and support the university’s push toward Carnegie Research One (R1) status.

  • Main announcement: TCU is investing $10 million in the AI² initiative with contributions from Dell Technologies and cloud partners AWS and Microsoft; the program uses a hybrid AI infrastructure (secure on-campus computing + cloud) with an on-campus deployment of the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, availability of NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and open Nemotron models, and hardware components listed as Dell PowerEdge servers with NVIDIA GPUs, NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking, and Dell PowerScale storage; hardware installation is underway, with a pilot before the end of the calendar year and an updated full campus rollout planned for January.
  • Background and details: The initiative is intended to centralize AI work across academic units and support research, teaching, and operations under faculty governance across four areas (AI in teaching, AI in research, research about AI, and responsible AI practices); named university officials and contributors include Chancellor Daniel W. Pullin, Provost Floyd Wormley, Vice Provost Reuben F. Burch V, Dell’s Jennifer Herbert, and CTO Bryan Lucas.
• Dec 12, 2025

  Roundtable: Data Centers as Energy Ecosystems

  Data Center Frontier convened an Executive Roundtable Q4 2025 where industry panelists (Ecolab, EdgeConneX, Rehlko, Schneider Electric) outlined how data centers are evolving into integrated energy and water ecosystems and active participants in grid and resource stability.

  • Main announcement: Panelists described concrete shifts toward hybrid power architectures, onsite generation and long-duration storage (options cited: natural gas, solar, wind, SMRs, geothermal, energy storage) and heat reuse / liquid cooling strategies. EdgeConneX noted markets like Texas and Ohio are forecast to add at least 5 Gigawatts of capacity next year, and EdgeConneX is supported by EQT and its portfolio companies to accelerate integrated AI-enabled data center offerings.
  • Background and details: Panelists emphasized three pillars—Policy, Technology (advanced batteries, nuclear, hydrogen, hydrogen-ready engines/fuel cells) and The Digital Thread (real-time data sharing and standards). They also highlighted closed-loop water reuse, partnerships with utilities and renewable projects, and that elements of the article were produced with assistance from OpenAI’s GPT5; author contact: mvincent@endeavorb2b.com.