North Texas has beaten some of the world’s biggest data center hubs to claim the No. 1 spot in a new global ranking, as Texas becomes an increasingly powerful player in the industry. Dallas ranked No. 1 in the 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison by Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate services firm.
Texas’ Growing Data Center Industry
The Lone Star State made a strong showing across the board, with Austin-San Antonio and West Texas also ranking first in their respective categories. The rankings underscore how quickly Texas has become a major destination for data center development as companies search for the land and electricity needed to support artificial intelligence and other computing.
Cushman & Wakefield said the state is growing at a pace that could eventually match, or surpass, Virginia, the world’s largest data center market by operating capacity. Dallas has one of the largest pipelines of planned data center development, trailing only Virginia and Atlanta, according to the report.
Challenges and Opportunities
The rapid growth has also drawn political attention, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pressing data centers to provide more of their own power and cover infrastructure costs as development accelerates across the state. Water availability is becoming a concern in West Texas and the Panhandle, while the enormous amount of electricity needed for new data centers is putting greater focus on the state’s power supply.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
