Texas Wins Again: Long-Term Investors Pour Billions Under Abbott's Data Center Standards with Skilled Trades Commitments

Governor Abbott’s data center guidelines require operators to detail their power plans, protect Texas water resources, and shield surrounding communities. 

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas — Score another one for the Texas model of doing things. Just days after Meta and BlackRock finalized a landmark venture to build a $10 billion-plus, one-gigawatt data center campus in El Paso, Governor Abbott announced that Meta, along with several other major companies, will comply with his recently announced data center standards, proving once again that when leaders set clear rules and get government out of the way, private capital shows up ready to build, hire, and foot its own bills.

Governor Abbott’s data center guidelines require operators to detail their power plans, protect Texas water resources, and shield surrounding communities. The Governor said his framework establishes clear guardrails so data centers “conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” to ensure costs are never passed on to Texas families.

Since the Governor issued his directives, data center developers across the state, including Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft, have announced plans to comply. Texas is concurrently attracting the AI buildout while writing the playbook for other states on how to do so responsibly.

President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge
The Texas approach mirrors leadership at the top. Meta was one of seven leading technology companies to initially sign President Donald J. Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge at the White House in March. Under the Pledge, companies commit to build, bring, or buy the new power generation their data centers require and to cover the full cost of grid infrastructure upgrades. President Trump has said the arrangement means prices for American communities “will not go up, but in many cases, will actually come down.”

Last month, the White House announced the Pledge had expanded to more than 200 additional utilities, developers, and states, covering 80 percent of all power delivered to American homes and businesses.

A Blue-Collar Boom in the Borderland
The El Paso campus is Meta's third data center in Texas but is already one of the state’s largest construction projects, employing more than 2,300 workers onsite with over 4,000 skilled trade workers expected at peak. Once operational, the facility will support more than 300 permanent jobs. Eddie Trevizo, the business manager of IBEW Local 960, which represents El Paso Electric workers, wrote that “the impact on the union workforce has been tremendous,” with some IBEW locals doubling in size and a construction phase long enough for its workers to finish entire apprenticeships.

The skilled trades pipeline is also expanding. BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners and the AI Infrastructure Partnership signed a memorandum of understanding this week with North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) to connect a pipeline of more than 3 million skilled tradespeople, including electricians, pipefitters, and ironworkers, to AI infrastructure projects. This builds on BlackRock's Future Builders initiative, which is investing nearly $30 million to train more than 12,000 Texas electricians over three years.

That's what the AI revolution looks like on the ground: welding rigs, hard hats, and family-sustaining paychecks for Texas workers.

Paying Their Own Way on Power and Water
Meta worked with El Paso Electric to plan its energy needs and pay the full cost of the power and infrastructure the campus requires, so El Paso consumers aren't left holding the bag. The company is supporting more than 5,000 megawatts of new clean and reliable energy projects in Texas.

On water, Meta has pledged to restore 200 percent of the water its El Paso data center consumes back to local watersheds, and it pays the full cost of its water and wastewater service. The company is also funding El Paso Water's AguaCares program to help support families in need with their water bills.

Clear standards. Private investment. Ratepayers protected. Workers hired. That's the Texas Model. With Governor Abbott's guardrails and President Trump's pledge in place, El Paso is a strong example for the rest of America of how Texas makes sure the AI era gets built right.