Texas Freezes Data Center Permits as Grid Queue Hits 474GW, Five Times Peak Demand
FinanceYF5 · x · 2026-10-10
a16z's Ryan McEntush explains why Texas paused data center approvals: large-customer interconnection requests exploded from 63GW in late 2024 to 474GW by June — over 5x record peak demand, 90% data centers. Two core problems: developers spam speculative, low-quality applications (some have never plugged in a GPU), and poor community trust — only 28 of 377 companies answered a state resource survey, and officials approved tax breaks without knowing the buyer. McEntush argues the power buildout opportunity extends beyond utilities: companies combining hardware, dispatch software, and new business models — plus solid-state transformers to break grid bottlenecks — will win, as manufacturing, electrification, and robotics all need the same infrastructure. "Power is where America finds out whether it can still build."
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