Texas orders audit of all data centers seeking grid power

Texas's governor directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and grid operator ERCOT to audit every data center seeking connection to the state's power grid. Projects that fail to meet the audit's requirements will be denied grid access.

Why it matters: Texas hosts a large and growing share of US AI data center capacity, so a state-mandated audit with grid access as the enforcement lever signals rising political pressure over AI's electricity demand, following similar pushback already seen in Oregon and Nevada. It could slow planned AI compute buildouts in one of the country's most attractive data center markets.