It’s Musk v. Altman time

Texas is poised for a major expansion in data center development, with 140 new facilities projected to be under construction this year, representing over 20% of America's total 2026 construction. This growth is attributed to the state's available land and regulatory environment, which is attractive to major AI companies such as Meta, Oracle, and Amazon. To support the immense power demands of these data centers, American PowerGen is developing a new energy project in Houston, designed to supply enough capacity to power three million homes. The company plans to triple its capacity in Texas by 2028. In related news, Maine's Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, vetoed a bill that would have enacted the first statewide 18-month moratorium on new data center construction in the U.S. Despite passing with unanimous support from her party in the legislature, Governor Mills stated that the ban would cause economic harm, particularly by halting a proposed data center project at a defunct paper mill site. This decision comes amidst growing public backlash against AI data centers across the country, with other states and localities also considering similar restrictions.