OpenAI’s 390-megawatt Texas data center could double town’s power needs

OpenAI is building a massive data center in Denton, Texas, that will consume 390 megawatts of power—enough to double the city’s electricity needs by 2030. The facility represents a critical infrastructure push as AI companies scramble to secure computing power, but it threatens to strain Texas’s already fragile electrical grid and could raise electricity bills for the city’s 160,000 residents.

The big picture: This data center is part of a broader wave of AI infrastructure projects across Texas, driven by OpenAI’s urgent need for computing capacity after having to limit feature releases in early 2025 due to underestimated power requirements.

Key details: The Denton facility will require round-the-clock power consumption to keep ChatGPT and OpenAI’s developer API running continuously.
• Core Scientific, a bitcoin mining company that pivoted to AI data centers, technically owns the site but is being acquired by CoreWeave in a $9 billion deal announced last week.
• The data center is significantly larger than typical facilities and will compete with local residents and 55,000 college students for power supply.
• Local officials are rushing to construct new grid infrastructure to handle the increased electrical load.

Strategic context: CEO Sam Altman is aggressively expanding OpenAI’s data center capacity, including helping orchestrate President Trump’s Stargate project—a $500 billion investment in AI data centers.
• The first Stargate-funded site in Texas, used by Oracle, consumes an even larger 1.2 gigawatts of power, enough to support approximately 750,000 homes.
• This infrastructure push reflects OpenAI’s recognition that securing electricity access is fundamental to the company’s future growth.

Grid concerns: Texas’s electrical system faces unprecedented strain from the rapid proliferation of AI data centers, according to the Texas Reliability Entity, an organization that assesses power reliability.
• “The region is forecasting unprecedented [grid] load growth that is primarily driven by…new data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) services,” the organization noted in a June report.
• The state’s grid made headlines in winter 2021 when record-low temperatures left millions without power.
• Data centers also require enormous amounts of water for cooling, and Texas is experiencing water shortages.

Potential impacts: The health effects of living near massive data centers remain largely unknown, with residents in another Texas town reporting unusual symptoms after a bitcoin mine began operating nearby.
• Rising electricity demand could increase utility bills for local residents if supply can’t keep pace, a pattern already occurring in 13 Northeastern states.
• The facility’s power consumption will be equivalent to that of an entire city, raising questions about sustainable AI infrastructure development.