Data Centers

In a city council meeting this week, recent fears of data center development met with generational frustrations over industrial zoning in north and east Lubbock, leading to threats of recalls for city leaders in a meeting where many who spoke out felt ignored.

Data centers are no longer an emerging industry. Driven by cloud computing, crypto mining and artificial intelligence, they are spreading rapidly across Texas, and the projected cost of the tax break has climbed into the billions. On Monday, the state senate finance committee asked if it was time to end the sales tax break for data centers.

The citizen’s group Save Lubbock says it has enough signatures to put the call for a data center moratorium before the city council. The petition will now go to the city secretary’s office to verify signatures. Meanwhile, at the state capitol this week, The Texas Newsroom's Blaise Gainey reports Texas lawmakers began looking at a long-standing tax break for data centers. The Texas Comptroller's Office projects the tax break could total $3.3 billion in 2028 & 2029.

Thirteen years ago, when Texas created the tax deal for data centers, state lawmakers expected to lose — at most — $14 million in tax revenue in Texas' next 2-year budget cycle. Now, state projections show it could lead to Texas forgoing more than $3 billion in the 2028-29 biennium.

Politicians on the ballot this November from both sides of the aisle have pressed for greater scrutiny on data centers in Texas. Recent polling shows most Texans oppose them in their communities.

A Hood County judge has sided against two proposed data center projects in a lawsuit. KERA's Emmanuel Rivas reports the developers argued the campuses should be automatically approved because of a missed deadline. Lubbock ISD is hosting its annual registration blitz tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at each of its campuses. Parents can register their students at any LISD campus, no matter which school their child will attend. Registration will require the student's birth certificate and social security card, the guardian's a government-issued photo ID, and proof of residency.

A Hood County judge dismissed a lawsuit over two proposed data center projects, allowing the county to continue reviewing the developments after rejecting developers' legal challenge.

Several Democratic candidates for local, state, and federal offices kicked off their West Texas campaign trail in Lubbock on Saturday with a roundtable, a rally, and a protest. A recurring topic of these separate events – data centers.

Saturday morning, Democratic candidate for governor Gina Hinojosa hosted a roundtable discussion in Lubbock with local community members to discuss data centers. She said that her hope with the conversation was to develop a path forward for regulation and oversight on these projects.

After 20 years as AT&T Stadium and nearly 80 years bearing the name of former university president Clifford Jones, Texas Tech Athletics has announced that the Red Raiders will now play from “Galaxy Stadium.” The 15-year naming rights deal between Texas Tech and data center developer Galaxy is just the latest in a push from university leadership to join in on high-tech research, large-scale data, and AI.