Texas’ data center frenzy is stretching from the piney woods east of Austin to the Gulf Coast, as tech giants and infrastructure developers race to lock down land, power and water for the next wave of AI computing.

Entities tied to Amazon earlier this month acquired at least 1,300 acres in Bastrop County, in what appears to be one of the largest Central Texas land grabs yet tied to hyperscale data center development, the Austin Business Journal reported. Property records show Amazon Data Services closed on multiple parcels in the Cedar Creek area this month, about 30 miles southeast of Austin.

The subsidiary operates Amazon Web Services facilities, the backbone of the company’s cloud computing empire. While Amazon has not confirmed plans for the site, the purchase adds another major player to the swelling list of data center developers targeting the Austin outskirts, where cheap land and expanding power infrastructure have turned rural counties into digital industrial zones, according to the outlet.

The land was previously slated for the Creekside Master Planned Community and owned by Austin-based CTX Capital Partners. Bastrop County officials declined comment, and Amazon did not respond to requests for comment from the outlet.

The acquisition lands in the midst of an unprecedented buildout across Texas driven by AI demand. The publication has identified more than 30 data center projects in the region representing at least $50 billion in projected capital investment, spread across millions of square feet. Bastrop County is developing into a hotspot, with projects such as EdgeConneX, a four-building, 2.8 million-square-foot campus with an estimated $1.4 billion price tag.

On the Gulf Coast, Hut 8 is pushing the scale conversation even further. The Miami-based AI infrastructure developer announced Wednesday it signed a 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion for the first phase of its Beacon Point campus in Nueces County near Corpus Christi. Reuters reported that the deal covers 352 megawatts of computing capacity, with room to scale to a planned 1-gigawatt campus.

The unnamed tenant will use the facility for large-scale AI training and operations. Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot described the lease as a “take-or-pay, triple-net” agreement backed by a high-investment-grade counterparty, giving the company long-term revenue certainty. If renewal options are exercised, the deal’s value could swell to $25 billion.

The project is expected to generate roughly 1,900 construction jobs and more than 200 permanent positions once operational. Hut 8 says the first phases alone represent $17 billion in capital investment.

But the expansion is also colliding with Texas’ infrastructure limits. Corpus Christi is facing severe drought conditions, with the reservoirs serving the region sitting below 8 percent capacity. Hut 8 says the facility will use a closed-loop cooling system filled once with imported water, avoiding continuous local water consumption beyond routine municipal use, according to KIII News.

— Eric Weilbacher

Read more

Cloudburst Data Centers secures incentives for $14B project between Austin and San Antonio

Data center push hits resistance as power, water concerns mount

Amazon investing $50B in data centers for one client: U.S. government