More than 300 data centers are currently operating in Texas, with approximately 200 planned and nearly 100 under construction, according to Data Center Map. Texas has the second most data centers in the country, following Virginia at 674, but reportedly surpassed Virginia as the No. 1 state for data center growth, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Data center growth comes as residents raise issues around energy and water consumption, public health and safety. In early August, Gov. Greg Abbott halted future data center projects from connecting to the state’s power grid and directed Texas energy regulators to conduct a comprehensive audit. As of early August, ERCOT was considering more than 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas electric grid, about 90% of which came from data center projects. University of Texas at Austin researchers estimate data centers could account for about 9% of the state’s water usage within the next 20 years. A sales tax exemption led data centers in Texas to save billions, costing the state $3.3 billion in forgone taxes during the 2028-29 budget cycle. Cyrus One currently has the most data centers in Texas at 35. Dallas is the leading metro area with 263 operating, planned and under construction data centers, followed by San Antonio with 85 and Austin with 75.

Out of 655 data centers in Texas Data Center Map shared with KXAN, 29 are not mapped because their location was labeled secret in the data. Skybox Datacenters owns the most locations with addresses withheld, all within about 25 miles north of Austin near Hutto. Fermi America’s data center planned in the panhandle will have the largest energy consumption out of all projects in the state at 11,000 megawatts.