In a state where fields are drying up and water reserves are shrinking, the data center boom raises a crucial question: how much can technology grow in an increasingly thirsty world?
One of the topics people are talking about most in Texas right now is water.
About 30% of Texas is currently classified as being in drought, while an additional 56% is considered “abnormally dry” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is a serious problem for a state that is one of the United States’ main agricultural producers supplying much of the nation’s cotton, corn, and livestock. Less water means smaller harvests, fewer livestock, and higher prices for everyone, from farmers to consumers.
Yet, in this arid region, where local communities are already struggling with water scarcity, major tech companies are building dozens of data centers, massive facilities that consume millions of gallons of water to cool servers.
In San Antonio, Microsoft operates two large data centers that, according to Newsweek and the Texas Water On Environment Quality, have consumed about 463 million gallons of water over the past two years, using both potable and recycled water.
Google has a facility in Pflugerville, near Austin, which used about 10,000 gallons of water in the past year, which corresponds to 63 hours of showering. However, the tech giant has also submitted a request for a new data center in the same area, estimating a maximum annual water usage of over 5 billion gallons.
Amazon operates at least three data center in Texas, but it does not disclose its water usage. According to an investigation by The Guardian, Amazon does not provide detailed environmental information about its facilities in the state, even though it is estimated that its global data center could use 174–186 billion gallons of water per year.
OpenAI has also chosen Texas for its first data center in the Stargate project, a partnership with Microsoft valued at an estimated $500 billion. The Texas site is the first step in a network that will include facilities in New Mexico and Ohio, a sign that artificial intelligence has a rapidly growing energy and water demand.
Tech companies choose the Lone Star State for several reasons.Texas is one of the largest energy producers in the United States, with oil, gas, wind, and solar. Low-cost electricity is a huge competitive advantage for data centers, which consume enormous amounts of power. The state does not levy income tax and offers substantial tax breaks to tech companies investing in infrastructure. Counties compete by offering cheap land and tax credits to attract giants like Microsoft, Google, and Meta. Texas ‘wide rural plains allow the construction of massive tech campuses far from urban centers but close to power lines. Land costs are also much lower than in tech hubs like California or Washington state.
