Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a moratorium on new data centre connections to the state's power grid, just months after promoting Texas as the "epicentre of AI development". The move directs the Public Utility Commission of Texas and grid operator ERCOT to audit all data centre projects currently seeking grid access, amid concerns that unchecked growth could threaten the reliability of the state's electricity supply.

The scale of demand is striking: ERCOT's connection queue holds more than 1,800 projects requesting over 474 gigawatts of power, roughly five times Texas's record peak demand, with data centres accounting for about 90% of these requests. ERCOT forecasts overall electricity demand could double by 2032, while a long-standing tax break for data centre developers—now costing over $1 billion annually—could cost the state $3.2 billion in lost sales tax revenue over the next two years. Abbott's audit will examine each project's power consumption, financial incentives and ownership, and its impact on local water supplies, though critics note it overlooks the larger indirect water use from the power generation that feeds these facilities.