BY GABBY BAILEY
Texas data centers
The big picture
Looking ahead
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On March 30, a company called Arvato announced in a release it would be operating a 270,000-square- foot logistics hub at 3331 FM 1173, with another 150,000 square feet allocated for future expansions. Arvato is a third-party logistics provider for data centers and marks the latest development as data centers grow in Denton. The $635 million Core Scienti c expansion began in November 2024 and will take three years, Birdseye said. Qumulus AI secured $500 million from Permian Labs, a ntech company, to build its Denton plant opening in 2028, its website states. Hudspeth said the money the city nets from the data centers will be used for di erent projects and one-time purchases in Denton, like a new re truck. How the funds are used will be future decisions for council. Hannah Norton contributed to this report.
City o cials are not actively recruiting data centers but support existing ones, emphasizing the importance of providing the necessary electricity and infrastructure, said Brittany Sotelo, Denton’s director of economic development. “The data centers are seeking sites speci c to their needs and their right amount of electricity. If we don’t have that site, then they will go some- where else,” Sotelo said. The two data centers that will be operating in Denton coincide with an increase in data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas. The state is the nation’s fastest-growing data center market, with a January report from Bloom Energy projecting that Texas will see a 142% increase in data center industry activity by the end of 2028. Over 2,000 projects totaling 453,000 megawatts are currently looking to connect to the state grid, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told state legislators April 1. About 357,000 megawatts of those requests are potential data centers, ERCOT
There are currently 439 data centers registered in Texas, with 180 registered in North Texas.
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180
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*AS OF APRIL 27 SOURCE: DATA CENTER MAP COMMUNITY IMPACT
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documents show. “We’re going to be the No. 1 data center state in the union because of our natural gas supply,” said Ross Perot Jr., chair of real estate development company Hillwood. “You’ve got this boom going on in manufacturing that is very strong.”
How it works
“You have to wait until [the revenue is] almost retroactive. You have to make sure the numbers
with this energy. DME External A airs Administrator Stuart Birdseye said that through the approved purchase power agreement with the city, Core Scienti c is obligated to pay 100% of its power costs, transmission costs and a base charge that will be transitioned to a publicly available rate. Qumulus AI is obligated to pay 100% of all costs, including power and transportation, according to its purchase power agreement, Birdseye said.
Core Scienti c originally leased 31 acres of city-owned land and 294 megawatts of power, but City Council agreed to increase the leased land to 78 acres and the company’s access to power to 394 megawatts in November 2024. That’s enough energy to power more than 78,000 homes. Qumulus AI’s facility will operate at 20 megawatts by the RD Wells electric substation, which is owned by Denton Municipal Electric, according to city documents. Exactly 4,000 homes could be powered
and uses come in.” GERARD HUDSPETH, DENTON MAYOR
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DENTON EDITION
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