Texas grid interconnection pause threatens 20% of US data centers

Bloomberg NEF estimates that a recent pause on new grid interconnections in Texas, ordered by the state's governor, puts roughly 20% of the entire US data center development pipeline at risk. The pause blocks new facilities from connecting to the grid while the state reassesses capacity.

Why it matters: Texas has become one of the largest hubs for AI data center buildout thanks to cheap land and permissive rules, so a grid-side bottleneck there could delay AI compute expansion well beyond the state. It also underscores a broader pattern: power-grid capacity, not chip supply, is becoming the real constraint on how fast AI infrastructure can scale.