Data Center Developers Seek Land and Power in Rural Texas and Midwest

Developers are acquiring land, power, water, and transmission access in rural areas of Texas and other Southern and Midwestern states to build large data center campuses for AI training and operation. The projects form part of an expanding AI infrastructure buildout that requires substantial electricity and cooling resources.

Rural communities in these regions are encountering increased competition for property and utility capacity as construction plans advance. Local officials have reported inquiries from project representatives seeking sites that can support high power loads and water usage for cooling systems.

Transmission lines and substation capacity are also under review to support the proposed facilities. The scale of each campus involves multiple buildings designed to house servers that train and run large AI models.