Tribune News Service — In a recently issued annual report, a real estate services company says Texas is primed to become the world’s largest market for data centers, those behemoth facilities storing computers and IT infrastructure. In fact, the report claims it may only be a few years before the Lone Star State soars into the top spot across all global markets.
Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) of Chicago on Feb. 17 released its North American Data Center Report for 2025, showing that even as data centers are being constructed at “unprecedented” levels, firms are moving into and staying in properties.
“This reflects sustained structural demand rather than cyclical imbalance,” wrote JLL Global Head of Data Center Research Andrew Batson in the review recap.
More interestingly for Texas, JLL reported that much of the new data center construction in North America is occurring in “frontier markets” including West Texas. And Texas ”could overtake Northern Virginia as the world’s largest data center market by 2030,” Batson wrote.
According to JLL, there could be around 10-11 gigawatts (GW) of data center capacity in Texas within the next few years, just considering what’s existing and currently under construction. That total would come close to Virginia, the current leader in the clubhouse in data center capacity. But Texas’ abundant land and its “business-friendly operating environment” mean the Lone Star State could surpass the Old Dominion State by around 2030.
It certainly doesn’t seem data center construction is slowing down any time soon. There’s a proposed data center for a 2,600-acre development near Dinosaur Valley State Park in North Texas; and another $2.1 billion data center campus is beginning to take shape on 107 acres in Fort Worth.
Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently gave the green light to Pacifico Energy for its enormous 7.65-GW West Texas grid project called “GW Ranch.” That should power data centers out there in that so-called frontier market. And back in November 2025, Google made a $40 billion investment in Texas with the intention to strengthen cloud and AI infrastructure through data centers and other facilities.
All of this will continue to meet blowback from environmental advocacy groups, who continue to raise red flags about the massive amount of energy these centers swallow up. Just last year, the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the main Texas power grid, said it received large load interconnection requests (applications filed by data centers and other large facilities) amounting in 230 GW last year, nearly four times the amount in requests it received in 2024.
© 2026 the Midland Reporter-Telegram. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Texas Primed to Leap Over Virginia for Global Data Center Lead
What to Know:
- A new Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) report says Texas could become the world’s largest data center market by about 2030, potentially overtaking Northern Virginia as growth accelerates in “frontier markets.”
- JLL estimates Texas could reach about 10–11 gigawatts of data center capacity in the next few years based on existing facilities plus projects under construction, putting it close to Virginia’s current scale.
- The build-out is colliding with grid and environmental concerns, as Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approvals and large private investments move forward while the Energy Reliability Council of Texas reports a surge in large-load interconnection requests tied to data centers and other major facilities.
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