It’s an early example of how the new administration’s economic policies could impact the Lone Star State.
TEXAS, USA — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Jan. 7 a $20 billion plan to ramp up data center development across the United States.
The effort will be financed with an investment led by Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, the head of Damac Properties, a luxury real estate developer in the Middle East and the United Kingdom.
Trump has plans to target Texas in the investment’s first phase, along with Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
“The investment will support massive new data centers across the Midwest, the Sun Belt area, and also to keep America on the cutting edge of technology and artificial intelligence,” Trump said at a Jan. 7 press conference.
Additional details about where such investments could be headed were not immediately available. But it’s an early example of how the new administration’s economic policies could impact the Lone Star State.
Texas is already a magnet for data center builds. That’s especially true in Dallas-Fort Worth, where large tracts of land are still up for grabs and electricity remains relatively affordable.
Some of the largest technology companies have data centers in North Texas, including Microsoft, Google, Meta, QTS and NTT Data. As the rise of artificial intelligence continues, data center development shows no slowdown, with large hubs breaking ground in Irving, Plano, Garland, Lancaster and Red Oak.
But more data centers mean upgrading infrastructure in power transmission, which could be necessary to support an influx of data center development.
In mid-year 2024, JLL found that DFW had the third-most colocation data center space in the country, following Northern Virginia and the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, the report indicated the colocation market had grown 82% in DFW since 2020, a rate that ranked ninth in the country.
Sajwani said at the Jan. 7 press conference his company plans to invest “even more” than the announced $20 billion if the opportunity and market allow.
Dallas Business Journal’s Noor Adatia and Plamedie Ifasso contributed reporting.