Google is making one of its largest U.S. infrastructure investments yet, announcing plans to invest $40 billion in three new data centers in Texas as competition for AI computing power intensifies. The investment, spread through 2027, positions Texas at the center of Google’s global AI expansion.
The company confirmed on Friday that the new facilities will be built in Armstrong County, in the Texas Panhandle, and in Haskell County, near Abilene in West Texas. One of the Haskell sites will sit alongside a new solar and battery storage plant, designed to minimize strain on the state’s grid.
“This investment will create thousands of jobs, provide skills training to college students and electrical apprentices, and accelerate energy affordability initiatives throughout Texas,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said at an event near Dallas, where Google already operates two data centers.
Texas Emerges as Ground Zero for AI Data Centers
Texas has rapidly become a hub for data-center development, thanks to abundant land, comparatively low energy costs, and a business-friendly environment. Companies building AI infrastructure — from OpenAI to Anthropic and Oracle — increasingly see the state as a strategic base for hosting massive computational workloads.
Google highlighted its commitment to expanding clean-energy capacity in parallel with its footprint, saying it is investing in new power resources, covering the operational costs tied to its usage, and backing community energy-efficiency programs. The company also said a workforce-development initiative funded by Google.org’s AI Opportunity Fund will help train more electrical apprentices across the state.
“Texas will be the centerpiece for AI data centers for Google,” Governor Greg Abbott said at the event. “They can come here and operate here knowing that Texas moves at the speed of business.”
Rival Tech Giants Also Scale Up in Texas
Google’s announcement adds to a wave of high-dollar commitments from other AI and cloud leaders:
- Anthropic unveiled plans this week for a $50 billion nationwide data-center expansion, including major Texas sites.
- The first data center tied to the Stargate project, backed by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, is already under construction in Abilene.
- Meta is building a gigawatt-scale data center in the state — a power load capable of supporting roughly 750,000 homes.
- Microsoft recently signed a $10 billion, five-year deal for computing capacity in Texas.
- Fermi Inc., the REIT co-founded by former Texas Governor Rick Perry, plans to build four nuclear reactors to support a private data-center campus.
Google’s Global Spending Spree Continues
Google’s Texas plans are part of an unprecedented surge in capital spending. The company is projected to exceed $90 billion in capex this year, driven largely by the race to scale AI-ready infrastructure — from servers and custom chips to hyperscale data centers.
In recent months alone, Google has:
- Announced a $15 billion AI hub in southern India.
- Committed $6.4 billion to computing investments in Germany.
- Pledged over $6.5 billion in the UK to boost AI development.
The aggressive global expansion reflects Google’s push to reshape itself around AI and cloud services — and deliver the financial returns investors expect from such massive, long-term infrastructure bets.
