Texas Data Center News

Sep 30, 2025

Patmos Expands Downtown KC AI Data Center

Patmos has expanded its AI data center by converting the former Kansas City Star building into the Patmos AI Campus, adding 10 MW of new colocation capacity to reach a total of 35 MW in a 360,000-square-foot facility.

Project details & capacity: The renovation adds 10 MW of new colocation space (total 35 MW site capacity), offers rack-ready colocation in increments of 2.5 MW, and supports densities of 100 kW or more per rack; the campus includes office, conference, and entertainment spaces. The company expects a $1 billion total investment as the project progresses and has similar projects in Dallas and Phoenix, and is considering St. Louis.
Infrastructure, security & community outreach: Patmos favors brownfield urban sites for existing infrastructure and chilled water capacity; security includes 24-hour armed guards, cameras, and a night-vision surveillance robot. Patmos conducted a comprehensive outreach effort (door-to-door engagement, joining the neighborhood association, and dedicated community meetings) to explain differences from traditional data centers and address local concerns.

Sep 29, 2025

Data Center World POWER

Data Center World POWER will be held Sep 29, 2025 to Oct 1, 2025 in San Antonio, TX, convening decision-makers on data center power resilience, energy efficiency, and sustainability.

Event details:Data Center World POWER runs Sep 29, 2025 – Oct 1, 2025 in San Antonio, TX; program includes keynotes, solution-driven panels, and networking focused on power, energy efficiency, and sustainability for data centers.
Registration & logistics: Standard Conference passes are available with a $200 discount using code 200FALL; event information and ticketing available at the provided passes/pricing URL.

Sep 27, 2025

Private equity sees profits in power utilities as electric bills rise and big tech seeks more energy

BlackRock subsidiary and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have proposed buying Allete, parent of Minnesota Power; the deal faces regulatory review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission with a potential Oct. 3 vote.

Main announcement: A BlackRock subsidiary and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have proposed a buyout of Allete (parent of Minnesota Power) for $6.2 billion (including $67 a share, a 19% premium). The deal impacts a utility serving ~150,000 customers, could influence whether Google builds a data center in the region, and is scheduled for a possible Oct. 3 vote by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Allete projects it will need $4.3 billion for transmission and clean energy projects over five years and says the buyout will not affect electric rates.
Background and other details: Private equity and infrastructure investors (including Blackstone) are pursuing multiple utility transactions (eg: bids for Public Service Company of New Mexico and Texas New Mexico Power Co; earlier sales in Wisconsin and a 19.9% stake sale in Northern Indiana). An administrative law judge (Megan J. McKenzie) recommended rejecting the Allete deal, and commission staff warned private investors could leverage the utility with debt to capture higher regulated returns. Opponents (eg: Energy and Policy Institute, state attorney general) cite risks of higher rates; supporters include building trades unions and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s administration.

Sep 24, 2025

OpenAI Expands Stargate With Five New Data Center Sites Across US

OpenAI announced it plans to invest roughly $400 billion to develop five new US data center sites in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank Group, part of a broader pledge to spend $500 billion on domestic AI infrastructure over the next four years.

Main action: OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank will develop five new Stargate-branded data center sites across Texas, New Mexico and Ohio, totaling 7 GW of capacity (comparable to some cities). The three Oracle-partnered sites account for >5.5 GW (including a 600 MW expansion near Abilene); the two SoftBank-partnered sites (Lordstown, Ohio and Milam County, Texas) total 1.5 GW with the Ohio site expected to be operational by next year and the Milam site now breaking ground. Financing will be via a mix of cash and debt; OpenAI cited a related $100 billion investment deal with Nvidia that should ease debt financing.
Background and details: The commitment advances an earlier $500 billion domestic infrastructure pledge and builds on a July agreement with Oracle to develop up to 4.5 GW of additional Stargate capacity (about $300 billion of the newly announced $400B). OpenAI said the expansion will support services such as ChatGPT (used by ~700 million weekly users) and noted broader industry spending (Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft) of roughly $344 billion for the year toward AI/data centers.

Sep 17, 2025 · IT Brief Asia

LiquidStack appoints new executives to drive growth & innovation

LiquidStack has appointed Ersson Zapata as Chief Operating Officer, Mike Tapp as Chief Financial Officer, and promoted Ed King to Chief Innovation Officer.

Executive changes and roles: Ersson Zapata joins from CSMi Solutions as Chief Operating Officer and will oversee global operations and supply chain; Mike Tapp (based in Dallas) is appointed Chief Financial Officer to develop financial strategies for worldwide growth; Ed King is promoted to Chief Innovation Officer after serving as Senior VP of Operations and will lead development of new liquid cooling technologies and thermal management initiatives.
Product and manufacturing developments: The company launched the GigaModular CDU (described as a scalable modular coolant distribution system delivering up to 10MW of cooling capacity) and opened a second manufacturing facility in Carrollton, Texas to expand United States manufacturing capacity in response to rising demand driven by AI infrastructure.

Sep 17, 2025

Our Investment in Aalo

MCJ has joined Aalo’s $100 million Series B led by Valor Equity Partners to back Aalo’s factory-manufactured extra-modular nuclear plants for data centers.

Primary announcement: MCJ joined Aalo’s $100 million Series B (led by Valor Equity Partners) to support Aalo’s factory-produced 50-megawatt pods (five 10-megawatt reactors, “XMRs”). Aalo operates a vertically integrated factory in Austin, aims for 52-week deployment timelines for data-center sites, and celebrated the Aalo-X groundbreaking beside INL; Aalo is one of 11 companies selected to the DOE President’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program targeting at least three test reactors by July 4, 2026.
Background and regulatory context: Founders and senior leaders include Matt Loszak (CEO, serial entrepreneur), Yasir Arafat (CTO, led MARVEL and Westinghouse eVinci work, achieved DOE reactor authorization in ~30 months), and Jon Guidroz (SVP, former Director of Energy at Microsoft/Google/AWS). The article cites May 2025 executive orders driving 18-month NRC review timelines, designation of AI data centers as ‘critical defense facilities’, a 400 GW nuclear target by 2050, and references the DOE’s $900M SMR program that benefits Aalo’s commercial pathways.

Sep 16, 2025

Green Data Center Developer Soluna Secures $100 Million Financing from Generate Capital

Soluna Holdings announced it has secured a $100 million scalable credit facility from Generate Capital to finance and refinance its pipeline of renewable-powered data centers.

Deal structure and immediate uses: The facility totals $100 million (USD) with an initial $12.6 million draw to refinance Soluna’s Texas-based Dorothy 1A and Dorothy 2 projects; a $22.9 million delayed draw to provide continued funding for Dorothy 2 and to support the newly launched 166 MW Project Kati 1 data center project; and an uncommitted $64.5 million accordion to support Soluna’s renewable-powered pipeline and fund AI-related long-lead equipment procurement. As part of the transaction, Generate Capital received warrants to purchase 4 million shares of Soluna common stock and a board observer right.
Background and operational details: Soluna, founded in 2018 and based in Albany, New York, designs and operates data centers co-located with wind, solar, or hydroelectric power to convert curtailed or underutilized renewable energy into high performance computing. The credit facility will be used for refinancing and construction of data center projects; CEO John Belizaire and Generate Principal Ryan Miller are quoted on the strategic fit and growth support.

Sep 16, 2025

Data centre future hinges on policy stability, not tax breaks

The Government of India has issued a draft National Data Centre Policy offering fiscal and regulatory incentives to attract large-scale data centre investment and link capacity expansion to energy efficiency and skills outcomes.

Main action: The draft policy proposes a 20-year tax holiday for developers who meet targets on capacity addition, energy efficiency, and job creation; it also proposes extending input tax credit on GST to capital assets (construction materials, cooling systems, electrical equipment) and may grant permanent establishment status to companies leasing or operating at least 100 MW of capacity to provide operational certainty.
Background and details: The article cites the data centre industry’s 24% CAGR since 2019, a projected addition of 795 MW by 2027 taking total capacity to 1,825 MW, and reported occupancy rates of 75–80% (JLL, CBRE). The draft requests coordination with the Ministry of Power for reliability and stresses integration with renewable energy and training-linked incentives; it recommends states earmark land banks for data centre parks.

Sep 13, 2025

Big Tech's energy-hungry data centers could be bumped off grids during power emergencies

Policymakers and grid operators are proposing rules to allow utilities or grid operators to disconnect large data centers during power emergencies.

Main action: Several U.S. regions are considering or implementing rules that would let utilities or grid operators disconnect large data centers during power emergencies to avoid widespread blackouts; Texas passed a bill in June ordering standards for power emergencies, PJM (which serves 65 million people) has proposed that proposed data centers may not be guaranteed electricity during a power emergency, and the Indiana & Michigan Power and Google filed a power-supply contract for a proposed $2 billion Fort Wayne data center in which Google agreed to reduce electricity use when the grid is stressed (key contract details remain confidential).
Background and details: Grid operators such as Southwest Power Pool (serving 18 million people) and Monitoring Analytics warn data center load could overwhelm grids; data centers use backup diesel generators, the Data Center Coalition seeks flexible standards, and advocates like Dan Diorio recommend pairing mandatory actions with financial rewards for voluntary reductions. The surge in demand is linked to AI growth since late 2022 (ChatGPT), and regulators and governors have raised legal and investment concerns about the proposals.

Sep 10, 2025

Climate Change Solutions - September 9, 2025

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) published a newsletter highlighting recent climate solutions, Congressional activity, briefings, and an upcoming AI-and-energy event.

Main announcement: EESI summarizes new content and events including articles on passive and sustainable cooling, grid resilience to heat waves, and a new Nature4Communities tool from U.S. Nature4Climate; it also hosted a briefing with the Ohio River Basin Alliance as part of its Resilient and Healthy Rivers series. Key figures and policy items cited include $57.3 billion in FY2026 discretionary funding in H.R.4553 (Energy and Water appropriations), a noted reduction of $766.4 million from 2025 levels, an authorizing proposal of $10 million to DOE under H.R.4490 (Wildfire Grid Resiliency Act), and $30 million annually directed to local officials under H.R.5154 (REACT Act).
Background and upcoming actions: The newsletter catalogs Congressional bills and hearings, media coverage, and events; it also announces an EESI briefing on AI and energy.
- Event: “Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Energy and the Environment”
  - Date: Thursday, September 25
  - Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  - Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (Room 2168) and online (livecast/RSVP link provided)
- Other details: Highlight notes available for the 28th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Forum and EXPO; a cited statistic: every $1 invested in transit generates $5 in economic returns.

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