texas triangle

The Texas Triangle represents one of America’s fastest-growing datacenter markets, anchored by Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. The region leverages ERCOT’s unique grid structure, abundant renewable energy, business-friendly regulation, and massive available land to attract hyperscale investments including major Stargate Project deployments.

overview

geographic scope

Primary Markets

• Dallas-Fort Worth Metro (largest concentration)
• Austin Metro (tech hub, rapid growth)
• Houston Metro (energy sector synergy)
• San Antonio Metro (Microsoft stronghold)
• West Texas (Stargate Abilene campus)

Top Cities by Projects

• Dallas/Fort Worth region (multiple sites)
• San Antonio (3 projects)
• Austin/Round Rock (emerging cluster)
• Abilene (Stargate epicenter)
• Temple, Midlothian (specialized deployments)

ercot advantage

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) provides unique advantages for datacenter development.

grid independence

Isolated Texas Grid

• Not synchronized with Eastern or Western Interconnections
• Texas-only regulation and planning
• Faster approval and interconnection processes
• Market-driven electricity pricing

Deregulated Market

• Competitive retail electricity market
• Direct contracts with generators
• Price transparency and hedging
• Innovation-friendly environment

power availability

Abundant Generation Capacity

• 90+ GW installed capacity in ERCOT
• Rapid growth in wind and solar
• Natural gas baseload
• Flexible peaking capacity

Interconnection Speed

• Faster than most US markets
• Direct developer-generator contracts
• Less regulatory friction
• Texas-friendly business environment

renewable energy leadership

Wind Energy

• Texas leads US in wind generation
• West Texas wind resources
• 30+ GW installed wind capacity
• Low-cost wind power

Solar Growth

• Massive solar expansion underway
• Excellent solar resources
• Utility-scale and distributed generation
• Grid-scale battery storage integration

24/7 Carbon-Free Energy

• Combination of wind, solar, and nuclear
• South Texas Project nuclear plants
• Comanche Peak nuclear
• Path to continuous clean energy

stargate project - abilene campus

The Stargate Project selected Abilene, Texas for its first operational AI datacenter campus.

project details

Stargate Abilene (Oracle/Crusoe) ($40B, 1.2 GW)

• First operational Stargate facility
• Oracle 15-year lease from Crusoe Energy
• OpenAI primary tenant
• Designed for 100,000 GPUs on single network fabric

Scale and Scope

• 4 million square feet at full buildout
• 1.2 GW power capacity planned
• 8 buildings total
• Phase 1: 2 buildings, 200+ MW (operational 2025)
• Phase 2: 6 buildings, 1,000 MW (completion 2026)

Technology

• Zero-water evaporation cooling system
• Natural gas turbines for backup power
• Renewable energy integration planned
• HPC and AI training optimized

abilene selection rationale

Why Abilene?

• Available power: West Texas grid capacity
• Land availability: large contiguous sites
• Wind energy: abundant low-cost renewables
• Lower costs: significantly cheaper than coastal markets
• Supportive local government: pro-development
• Central location: Texas Triangle connectivity

additional stargate sites

Milam County Site

• Part of $500B Stargate program
• Powered infrastructure for fast deployment
• One of 20 planned Texas sites

Shackelford County Site

• West Texas location
• Adjacent to wind generation
• Part of Stargate expansion

Total Texas Commitment

• 20 sites planned across state
• Tens of billions in investment
• AI training and inference focus
• Texas as national AI infrastructure leader

dallas-fort worth metroplex

The DFW Metroplex anchors Texas datacenter development with established enterprise infrastructure and rapid hyperscale expansion.

major projects

Google Midlothian Data Center ($600M, operational)

• 260,000 square feet
• First Google datacenter in Texas
• Ellis County location
• Renewable energy powered
• Google Cloud Region designation

Google Red Oak Data Center ($600M, under construction)

• Second Texas datacenter
• 166 acres
• Part of $1B+ Texas investment
• 375 MW solar PPAs signed
• AI and machine learning focus

Meta Fort Worth Campus ($1.5B, operational)

• 2.6 million square feet
• 5 datacenter buildings
• 100% renewable energy
• Water-efficient cooling
• Contributing to 1,919 MW new Texas renewable energy

CyrusOne & Calpine Whitney Campus ($1.2B, under construction)

• 190 MW capacity
• Adjacent to Thad Hill Energy Center
• Direct power plant connectivity
• Bosque County location
• Expected completion Q4 2026

PowerHouse & Provident Grand Prairie Campus (under construction)

• 1.8 GW switchyard planned
• Massive power infrastructure
• AI and hyperscale focus
• First building energization May 2026

emerging developments

GigaPop Data Center - Red Oak ($1B planned)

• 800,000 square feet on 131 acres
• Gigabit Fiber, Lincoln Property, Tradition Holdings
• 18 miles south of Dallas
• Initial 7,500 sq ft space

CyrusOne DFW7 Fort Worth ($200M, under construction)

• 1.9 million square feet multi-building campus
• 70 MW initial IT capacity
• Scalable to larger capacity
• Colocation and hyperscale

network infrastructure

Fiber Connectivity

• Multiple diverse fiber routes
• Dallas carrier hotels and meet-me rooms
• Low-latency to major markets
• Established enterprise ecosystem

Infomart Dallas

• Major carrier hotel
• Cologix data centers (DAL1, DAL2, DAL3)
• 50+ networks
• Direct cloud onramps to AWS, Azure

austin metro area

Austin’s tech hub status and renewable energy resources drive rapid datacenter growth.

major projects

Skybox Datacenters PowerCampus - Hutto ($125M, under construction)

• 3.9 million square feet planned
• 600 MW hub
• 160 acres, 6 buildings
• Company’s largest campus
• Northeast of Austin

Blueprint Projects Taylor Data Center ($1B planned)

• 135,000 square feet
• 52-acre parcel
• 3 construction phases over 10 years
• Northeast of Austin corridor

AWS Round Rock Data Center (planned)

• 150 acres east of McNeil Road
• Cloud and hyperscale
• Revised from distribution center plan
• AWS regional expansion

austin advantages

Tech Ecosystem

• Major technology employer presence
• University of Texas talent pipeline
• Startup and innovation culture
• Tesla, Oracle headquarters relocations

Renewable Energy

• Austin Energy renewable commitments
• Solar and wind resources
• Progressive clean energy policies
• Corporate sustainability goals alignment

san antonio metro

San Antonio has emerged as a major datacenter market, particularly for Microsoft.

microsoft dominance

Microsoft San Antonio Campus ($215M, expansion)

• 245,000 square feet (SAT16 facility)
• 10 datacenters planned between Bexar and Medina counties
• 791 FTE projected by end 2026
• Cloud and hyperscale focus

Microsoft Medina County Data Centers ($1.4B, under construction)

• 4 new datacenters west of San Antonio
• Castroville area
• Major regional investment
• Azure infrastructure

other major projects

Stream Data Centers San Antonio III ($400M, under construction)

• 1.5 million square feet at full build
• 200 MW capacity
• Initial 300,000 sq ft turnkey space
• 334 MW CPS substation on-site
• Completion Q2 2025

AWS San Antonio Data Center (operational)

• 109,600 square feet
• 12 MW power
• 7400 Potranco Road location
• Cloud services

Meta Temple Data Center ($800M, under construction)

• 900,000 square feet
• Bell County location
• AI-optimized design
• 100% renewable energy
• Water-efficient cooling
• Construction resumed 2024 after 2022 pause

west texas corridor

West Texas offers unique advantages for power-intensive AI datacenters.

vantage frontier campus

Vantage Frontier - Shackelford County ($25B, under construction)

• 1.4 GW GPU compute capacity
• Largest single Vantage investment
• Mega-scale AI campus
• First building delivery H2 2026

west texas advantages

Wind Energy

• West Texas wind corridor
• Lowest cost wind in US
• Direct interconnection feasible
• 24/7 generation feasibility with storage

Available Land

• Large contiguous sites
• Low land costs
• Minimal development restrictions
• Supportive local governments

Power Infrastructure

• ERCOT West Texas grid
• Generation interconnection proximity
• Natural gas pipeline access
• Transmission capacity

central texas developments

Central Texas between Austin and Dallas sees significant activity.

temple

Meta Temple Data Center ($800M, under construction)

• 900,000 square feet
• AI-optimized design after 2022 pause
• 100% renewable energy commitment
• Water-efficient cooling technology

bosque county

CyrusOne & Calpine Whitney Campus ($1.2B)

• 190 MW hyperscale campus
• Adjacent to Thad Hill Energy Center
• Direct power plant connectivity
• Q4 2026 expected completion

ECP & KKR Bosque County Campus ($4B investment)

• 190 MW hyperscale campus
• Near Whitney
• Total investment approaching $4 billion
• Q4 2026 expected completion

houston metro

Houston’s energy sector expertise and infrastructure support datacenter growth.

energy sector synergy

Power Generation Expertise

• Oil and gas infrastructure
• Combined cycle gas turbines
• Petrochemical industry synergies
• Energy sector workforce

Available Sites

• Industrial zoned land
• Existing infrastructure
• Port access for equipment
• Chemical corridor proximity

renewable energy integration

Texas leads the nation in renewable energy datacenter integration.

wind power

Texas Wind Leadership

• 30+ GW installed capacity
• West Texas wind corridor
• Panhandle wind resources
• Lowest cost wind in US
• Direct corporate PPAs feasible

solar growth

Utility-Scale Solar

• Massive expansion underway
• West Texas solar resources
• South Texas development
• Grid-scale battery storage integration

Example: Google Red Oak

• 375 MW solar PPAs
• Supporting datacenter operations
• ERCOT renewable energy integration

nuclear baseload

Existing Plants

• South Texas Project (Matagorda County): 2.7 GW
• Comanche Peak (Glen Rose): 2.3 GW
• Carbon-free baseload power
• 24/7 clean energy component

business environment

regulatory advantages

No State Income Tax

• Corporate and personal income tax free
• Attractive for operators and employees
• Competitive advantage for recruitment

Business-Friendly Regulation

• Minimal datacenter-specific regulation
• Fast permitting compared to other states
• Right-to-work state
• Limited environmental restrictions

economic incentives

Property Tax Abatements

• County and city abatements common
• Equipment exemptions (varies by jurisdiction)
• Chapter 313 (expired but legacy projects)
• Economic development agreements

Sales Tax Exemptions

• Manufacturing equipment exemptions
• Data processing equipment (varies)
• Energy exemptions for certain uses

challenges

grid reliability

Winter Storm Uri (2021)

• February 2021 grid failures
• Datacenter backup power critical
• Renewed focus on reliability
• On-site generation investments

Summer Peak Demand

• Extreme heat driving demand
• ERCOT conservation alerts
• Cooling load challenges
• Renewable intermittency

Solutions

• On-site natural gas generation
• Battery storage integration
• Demand response participation
• Grid-interactive UPS systems

water resources

Water Scarcity

• Texas water planning challenges
• Competition for limited resources
• Agricultural and urban demands

Datacenter Solutions

• Air-cooled systems (Meta Fort Worth)
• Waterless cooling technologies (Stargate Abilene)
• Closed-loop systems
• Water-efficient designs

extreme heat

Cooling Challenges

• 100°F+ summer temperatures
• Increased cooling loads
• PUE impacts
• Equipment stress

Design Responses

• Advanced cooling technologies
• Thermal storage
• Night-time heat rejection
• High-efficiency systems

future outlook

stargate impact

Texas Stargate Sites

• 20 sites planned across Texas
• Abilene operational campus
• Milam and Shackelford counties
• Tens of billions in investment

Economic Transformation

• AI infrastructure leadership
• Workforce development
• Renewable energy acceleration
• Texas technology sector diversification

growth projections

Near-Term (2025-2027)

• Stargate Abilene full buildout
• Google and Meta campus completions
• Microsoft San Antonio expansion
• DFW continued growth

Medium-Term (2027-2030)

• Additional Stargate sites operational
• Austin metro rapid expansion
• Houston datacenter cluster emergence
• West Texas AI corridor development

Long-Term (2030+)

• Texas Triangle integration
• National AI infrastructure leadership
• Renewable energy showcase
• 20+ GW datacenter capacity

key statistics by metro

dallas-fort worth

• Projects: 11
• Investment: $15B+
• Status: mature market, hyperscale growth
• Focus: enterprise, hyperscale, AI

austin metro

• Projects: 5
• Investment: $2B+
• Status: rapid expansion, tech hub
• Focus: hyperscale, colocation, innovation

san antonio metro

• Projects: 5
• Investment: $3B+
• Status: Microsoft-dominated, growing
• Focus: cloud, hyperscale

west texas (abilene region)

• Projects: 3
• Investment: $50B+ (Stargate-dominated)
• Status: explosive AI growth
• Focus: AI training, hyperscale

major operators

hyperscale providers

• OpenAI (3 projects via Stargate, Texas anchor)
• Amazon Web Services (3 projects, regional expansion)
• Google (3 projects, DFW focus, renewable energy)
• Meta (2 projects, Fort Worth and Temple)
• Microsoft (2 projects, San Antonio stronghold)
• Oracle (Stargate partner, Abilene deployment)

colocation and developers

• CyrusOne (2 major projects, KKR-owned)
• Stream Data Centers (San Antonio campus)
• Vantage Data Centers (Frontier mega-campus)
• Skybox Datacenters (Austin PowerCampus)
• Digital Realty (Garland campus expansion)
• Aligned Data Centers (DFW presence)
• NTT Data (Garland campus)
• Cologix (Dallas Infomart)

energy partners

• Calpine (partnering with CyrusOne on Whitney)
• Crusoe Energy (Stargate Abilene operator)
• Energy Capital Partners (Bosque County campus)

ercot interconnection advantages

faster timelines

Interconnection Process

• Typically 18-36 months vs 4-7 years elsewhere
• Direct generator negotiations
• Less regulatory complexity
• Texas-only jurisdiction

flexible contracting

Power Purchase Agreements

• Direct corporate PPAs
• Renewable energy matching
• Hedge against price volatility
• 10-20 year contracts common

market signals

Real-Time Pricing

• Transparent electricity pricing
• Economic demand response
• Grid balancing incentives
• Innovation in grid-interactive computing

conclusion

The Texas Triangle represents one of America’s most dynamic datacenter markets, combining ERCOT’s unique grid advantages, abundant renewable energy, business-friendly environment, and massive land availability. With Stargate Project deployments, hyperscale commitments from all major cloud providers, and strategic positioning in the state’s economic transformation, Texas is emerging as a national leader in AI infrastructure and next-generation datacenters. The region’s renewable energy leadership, particularly in wind and solar, positions Texas datacenters to achieve sustainability goals while maintaining cost competitiveness. As the triangle connecting Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio continues to integrate with West Texas AI corridors, the state is establishing itself as America’s AI infrastructure heartland.