Hyperscale Data Center Construction in Texas

A request to energize 75 megawatts or more now follows a different path through ERCOT than an ordinary commercial load. Senate Bill 6 directs the Public Utility Commission to adopt interconnection standards for large loads at that threshold, and the legislature's bill analysis lists site control, a study fee of at least $100,000 for initial transmission screening, financial commitments, and, for transmission-voltage loads connected after December 31, 2025, equipment that lets the load be curtailed during firm load shed. A hyperscale data center in Texas is a power project before it is a building, and the shell schedule follows what the grid will let an owner energize.

We start from power and cooling, then work back to the building and the site. On a hyperscale job that order means the on-site substation, the medium-voltage routing, the generator yard and the heat rejection plant are laid out before a single data hall footprint is fixed on the pad. The halls are repeatable blocks, and the campus is the sum of the blocks plus everything that feeds them.

ERCOT describes its footprint as about 90 percent of the state's electric load, serving more than 27 million customers across more than 55,000 miles of transmission line, and its Board's minimum target reserve margin is 13.75 percent of peak demand. A hyperscale owner is asking that system for a load that can match a small city. Utility Dive reported in August 2026 that interconnection requests had reached about 474 GW, roughly 90 percent of them data centers, and that the governor had called for a pause on new data center interconnections while a community impact review was run on facilities of 25 MW and above.

We read those headlines as scheduling risk, not as a reason to wait. A site that has land control, a credible study submission and a shell design that can be built in phases is in a stronger position than a site waiting on a perfect load letter. Our preconstruction work, covered under permitting and utility interconnection, tracks the rules as they change so the owner is never building to a stale assumption.

The core building is a long, low, clear-span structure, usually tilt-up concrete, precast or steel with insulated metal panel walls, sized in repeating halls so each can be commissioned independently. Roof loads are heavy because mechanical units, cable trays and sometimes liquid cooling headers hang from the framing, and the slab carries rack rows, battery cabinets and the point loads from equipment that arrives on skates. Floors are flat, sealed and dry before any cabling starts, because dust is the enemy of every system that follows.

Outside the building the scope is larger than the shell. A hyperscale campus needs a switchyard or substation pad, duct banks in quantity, generator and fuel yards, a chiller or dry cooler plant, truck courts for deliveries of long-lead gear, security fencing with vehicle barriers and a fiber entrance route that stays away from road widening and utility corridors. We price and sequence these as one package through hyperscale campus construction so the shell is never waiting on a yard that was treated as an afterthought.

Public reporting from October 2025 describes an AI data center announced for northeast El Paso at roughly 1.2 million square feet on about 1,039 acres near U.S. Highway 54, with 1,800 construction jobs at peak, and says the campus is expected to reach a gigawatt of capacity with an expected online date in 2028. We use it as market context only; we did not build it and we do not describe its design. It does show what the largest Texas buyers are planning, and what that scale does to a site: a thousand acres means earthwork measured in haul distance and phasing, not just cut and fill.

Desert sites bring their own conditions. Stormwater from a 2006 event in El Paso, which El Paso Water says dropped a year's worth of rain in two days, is the kind of design storm detention basins and arroyo crossings must be sized around. Our El Paso market page goes further into those site conditions. Dust control, wind and heat during pours shape the construction calendar as much as the equipment lead times do.

We work in blocks. The first block carries the full burden of site utilities, the substation tie, the first generator bank, the first cooling plant module and the first hall. Later blocks repeat the hall and add plant in steps, so each expansion is a connection and a commissioning event, not a rebuild. That is easier to say than to hold; it depends on duct banks, conduit stubs and pad sizing being right the first time, which is why we survey and pot-hole the whole campus before trenching begins.

Long-lead gear sets the critical path. Transformers, switchgear, generators and chillers arrive on their own schedule, so we line up delivery windows, laydown space and rigging plans while the slab is still being formed. Our work on long-lead equipment procurement keeps the owner's purchasing team and the field in the same schedule, and we hold the building weathertight early so equipment can be set into conditioned space. Readers comparing hall types can see how the same structure changes with density and tenant mix on our pages for colocation data centers and AI training campuses.

Texas has no single enforced commercial code. Local Government Code Sec. 214.216 makes the International Building Code the municipal commercial baseline and lets each city adopt amendments by ordinance. Dallas, for example, lists the International Building Code with local amendments, the International Energy Conservation Code and the National Electrical Code. The State Energy Conservation Office still lists the energy code for statewide use. A campus in an unincorporated area can follow a different path from one inside a city, so we confirm the edition with the building authority before the drawings go out.

Beyond the building code, a hyperscale campus runs through accessibility registration with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for projects of $50,000 or more, fire marshal review of fuel storage, and environmental approvals for stormwater and fuel. We tie those reviews to the construction schedule inside design-build delivery so permits and procurement move together.

Hyperscale buyers are cloud providers and, increasingly, the developers and power companies that assemble land and energy on their behalf. Each wants a single point of accountability for the civil, structural and mechanical-electrical scope, and each wants to see the substation work and the shell in one coordinated schedule. Our page for hyperscale cloud providers covers how we engage with owner standards, preferred equipment lists and turnover requirements.

Utilities and power developers sit on the other side of the meter. When a campus needs its own switching station or a dedicated line extension, we coordinate with their design team and build the site portions on a schedule they can inspect. The on-site substation yard is usually the first structure on the campus and the last one to be fully released.

Send us the site, the load request and the target energization date. We will return a block-by-block build plan covering the substation tie, the shell, the plant and the commissioning handoff.

How large a load is treated as a large load under the new ERCOT rules?

Senate Bill 6 sets a demand threshold of 75 megawatts for the interconnection standards the Public Utility Commission is directed to adopt, or lower if the Commission finds a lower level is needed. Large loads must show site control, pay a study fee of at least $100,000 and meet financial commitment requirements. Most hyperscale campuses exceed that threshold at full build, so owners plan the application early and build the shell in blocks.

Can the shell be built before power is confirmed?

Yes, but it is a decision about risk. Sitework, utility corridors and the first hall can proceed on a defined budget while the study runs, as long as the owner accepts that energization could land after the shell is complete. We usually recommend building the civil and duct bank work first, then releasing the vertical structure once the interconnection path is clear.

What does a hyperscale slab need that an ordinary warehouse slab does not?

Flatness, a vapor and curing plan, and a cleanliness plan. The slab carries rack rows, battery cabinets and equipment on skates, so we control joints, curing and sealing, and we protect the finished surface from construction traffic. Expansive clay in much of the state means soil preparation is part of the slab design, not a footnote.

Do the governor's calls for a pause affect a project already under construction?

The reporting describes a call for a pause on new interconnections and a review of facilities of 25 MW and above, with ERCOT filing targets later in the year. We treat that as a schedule risk to monitor on every campus, confirm the project's status with the utility in writing, and keep phased options open so the owner can slow or accelerate a block.