Tech giants agree to comply with Texas data center rules
The standards put forward by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott call for the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to review data center projects to ensure, among other things, that they pay for their own electric infrastructure, reuse their own water and reduce their reliance on government subsidies.
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- Over 40 tech and AI companies have agreed to Texas’ new data center standards.
- The new rules require data centers to pay for their own infrastructure and conserve water.
- Texas has paused new data center approvals to conduct a statewide audit of projects.
Anthropic, OpenAI and Oracle, along with more than 40 other tech giants and AI industry leaders, have gotten on board with Texas’ new data center standards for energy consumption and water use to operate in the state.
In a series of announcements dating back to Aug. 6, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said tech and AI companies have agreed to comply with Texas’ push to shield residents from rising energy costs driven by data center construction and expansions.
“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” Abbott said in a statement. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”
These announcements and commitments follow Abbott’s Aug. 3 order for a full audit of proposed data centers seeking to connect to the state grid, to ensure they comply with Abbott’s directive requiring data centers to fully fund the electric infrastructure needed to support their operations.
Here’s a quick look at which tech companies said they would comply with Texas’ new data center requirements and what those guidelines are.
See which tech, AI companies are complying with Texas’ data center rules
According to several news releases from Abbott’s office, the following tech companies and data centers have said they will comply with Texas’ new data center standards:
- OpenAI
- Oracle
- Anthropic
- Amazon
- Microsoft
- Meta
- Equinix
- Digital Realty
- Prologis
- Ecolab
- Hanwha
- CoreWeave
- Crusoe
- CyrusOne
- QTS
- Vantage Data Centers
- Core Scientific
- CleanSpark
- Riot Platforms
- MARA Holdings
- Bitdeer
- Hut 8
- Cipher Digital
- Ionic Digital
- Stack Infrastructure
- EdgeConneX
- Skybox Datacenters
- Stream Data Centers
- Compass Datacenters
- Galaxy
- Switch
- Lancium
- Nightpeak Energy
- New Era Energy & Digital
- HIF
- Rowan Digital Infrastructure
- Montera Infrastructure
- Comanche Circle Data Center
- Power House Data Centers
- Emergent Data Centers
Abbott also announced on Aug. 18 that the Data Center Coalition — a data center sector’s membership coalition — will also comply with the data center standards and guidelines.
What are Texas’ new data center standards?
Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on June 10 to ensure data centers do the following:
- Pay for their electric infrastructure instead of shifting costs onto Texas families and small businesses.
- Reuse their own water.
- Reduce electricity costs for Texans.
- Do not disrupt residential neighborhoods to preserve Texas’ quality of life.
- Pay their own way and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.
Abbott gave state regulators until July 17 to inform his office of the actions taken under current law, identify the limits the law places on the issues and recommend legislative proposals necessary to implement these objectives.
These standards were only the start, as Abbott ordered a construction freeze on proposed data centers to allow PUCT and ERCOT to conduct a full audit to determine whether they comply with the new guidelines.
Texas pauses new data center approvals for statewide audit
Abbott directed PUCT and ERCOT on Aug. 3 to examine each data center project and how they will:
- Pay their own way by disclosing all taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, abatements and other public financial assistance tied to the project.
- Provide their own power by detailing projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation or other measures to reduce reliance on the ERCOT grid.
- Protect Texas water resources by identifying water sources, projected water use, water reuse procedures and water-efficient cooling technologies.
- Outline measures to reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities, including noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, emergency response coordination and other community protection measures.
- Provide full transparency by disclosing project ownership and controlling interests.
Abbott noted that PUCT and ERCOT must receive and audit this information before data center projects can move forward.
As of Aug. 3, ERCOT was considering about 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid — more than five times ERCOT’s record peak demand — with data centers accounting for about 90% of the new power requests.
Trump says Texas is making a mistake pausing data centers
While some state leaders, like Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, say Abbott’s new data center standards don’t go far enough to protect Texas — particularly the agriculture community — one national leader says the guidelines could hurt the state’s economy.
In an Aug. 7 interview with Punchbowl News, President Donald Trump said Texas is making a mistake by pausing data center projects.
“I saw Texas the other day, sort of against it,” Trump said. “I think it’s a mistake, and I’m not taking positions here. I just think it’s a mistake. There are other communities that want it, and when a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come to the community.”
Trump went on to say he thinks data centers are important for economic reasons and that “data centers could be bigger than oil.”
How many data centers are in Texas?
There are 335 existing data centers in Texas, with at least 248 more in the works, as of June 26, according to the Texas Tribune.
Most Texas voters oppose data centers in their communities, poll finds
A poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project released June 24 found that 56% of Texas registered voters oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, with 42% strongly opposed.
Several cities and counties have also been trying to take matters into their own hands. The San Marcos City Council, on June 16, adopted a new ordinance that amends its zoning rules to effectively ban data center development in the city, citing concerns about the strain these projects would place on local water and energy resources.
The Texas Tribune also reported on June 6 that Hill County leaders passed a moratorium on data centers, but it was later rescinded after a developer sued the county for $100 million. Hood County commissioners approved a similar moratorium but withdrew it after a Texas state senator requested an attorney general’s opinion on whether counties could impose such restrictions.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.