A massive, solar-fueled data center hub is on its way to Central Texas, if someone steps in to lease it.
SB Energy paved the way for a $3 billion data center outside Rosebud, about 70 miles northeast of Austin, the Austin Business Journal reported. Milam County approved a reinvestment zone, but county officials said they will not consider a tax abatement package until SB Energy signs a tenant.
The company, owned by SoftBank Group, plans to build multiple data center buildings spanning 1.5 million square feet on 595 acres adjacent to its Orion Solar Belt project, one of the largest solar installations in the country.
About $3 billion in capital investment is expected at the campus, according to public records. SB Energy’s plan calls for building the facilities before leasing them to a third-party data operator. The facilities will use a closed-loop water cooling system and emit minimal light and noise, addressing residents’ environmental concerns, company representative Karl Brutsaert said in a public meeting.
SB Energy is expected to buy the land, which is owned by an entity with an address in Giddings, JF Holdings LLC. The site’s proximity to the Orion Solar Belt makes it attractive for data center use, especially amid rising demand for power-intensive artificial intelligence workloads. SB Energy has previously used its solar power to support Google data centers in North Texas.
The data center would operate 24/7 but provide few long-term jobs. Still, it is a valuable project for the county’s tax income, Milam County Judge Bill Whitmire said. The region is still recovering from the closure of an Alcoa aluminum plant two decades ago that erased 2,000 jobs.
Milam County is one of several emerging data center hot spots in Texas as operators seek proximity to renewables and large transmission infrastructure. The Austin/San Antonio corridor has 463 megawatts of data center capacity under construction — 97 percent of it pre-leased — and at least $25 billion in planned investment as of February, according to CBRE.
— Judah Duke
Read more
Data center boom hits both ends of Texas’ tech corridor
Will Texas’ energy grid keep up with data center forecasts?
Cawley’s 5,200-acre buy puts data centers ahead of residential
