Texas power queue jumps from 63GW to 474GW as data centers hit grid limits
FinanceYF5 · x · 2026-10-10
An a16z analysis on US power for the next wave of AI growth: Texas' large-load interconnection queue has surged from 63GW at the end of 2024 to 474GW — over 5x the state's historical peak demand — with 90% coming from data centers, prompting a pause on new large-load projects.
Companies used to just find utilities with spare capacity and sign long-term contracts; now almost every new large load requires upgrading transmission lines and substations, and fully connecting a major data center can take 5–10 years. The grid is becoming the hard bottleneck for AI compute expansion.
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