Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that Amazon, Lancium, and Cipher Digital have agreed to comply with the state’s new data center standards, while a separate announcement the same day added Stack Infrastructure, Anthropic, and Nightpeak Energy to the list.

The developments also come days after The Dallas Express reported that a growing number of major operators — including OpenAI, Oracle, Meta, QTS, and others — had already committed to the governor’s standards.

Six More Companies Commit

According to the Office of the Texas Governor, Abbott announced Friday that Amazon, Lancium, and Cipher Digital will comply with the standards and guidelines established for Texas data centers.

In a separate announcement issued the same day, Abbott said Stack Infrastructure, Anthropic, and Nightpeak Energy also agreed to comply.

The governor’s office said the standards—established through June 2026 directives to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and reinforced by an early-August audit order—require data centers to address electricity infrastructure, water use, neighborhood impacts, and public incentives before projects can move forward. Full statutory codification of several elements is planned for the next legislative session.

“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” Abbott said. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”

The announcements are part of a series of commitments announced by Abbott’s office throughout August.

What Abbott’s Standards Require

Abbott’s standards focus heavily on preventing large data centers from transferring infrastructure costs to other electricity customers.

As The Dallas Express reported in June, Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to require data centers to pay the costs of electric infrastructure needed to serve their operations.

In his June directive, Abbott said data centers should operate in ways that reduce costs for residential electricity customers, protect water resources, and account for nearby neighborhoods.

The current review process requires companies to provide information about projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation or other measures designed to reduce reliance on the ERCOT grid.

Companies must also disclose taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, tax abatements, and other public financial assistance tied to their projects.

Water and Neighborhood Impacts Are Also Part of the Review

Water use is another major component of the new standards.

According to Abbott’s office, data center proposals must identify their water sources, projected water consumption, water-reuse procedures, and water-efficient cooling technologies.

Projects also must outline measures to reduce effects on neighboring property owners and communities. Those measures can include noise mitigation, lighting controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, and emergency-response coordination.

The requirements come as communities across Texas have debated whether large data centers are compatible with residential areas.

In July, for example, The Dallas Express reported that North Richland Hills Mayor Jack McCarty opposed placing data centers near homes. The city had adopted specific data center regulations in 2025, including requirements concerning cooling and power equipment, and a potential 100-foot setback from residential property under certain circumstances.

Rural Texas Has Become a Flashpoint

The statewide standards also follow growing concern over large projects proposed outside major metropolitan areas.

In March, The Dallas Express reported that State Rep. Helen Kerwin urged Abbott to consider an immediate pause on new large-scale data center development in rural communities. Kerwin cited constituent concerns about water resources and electricity availability.

By July, Abbott himself was publicly calling for a prohibition on new AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods and arguing that developers should bring their own money, power, and water. (This remains a stated policy position rather than enacted law.)

“Pushing back on these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods. I’ve made it clear already, any AI data center thinking about coming here, they have to bring their own money, bring their own power, use their own water, and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state. We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods. We must eliminate the tax break they are getting,” Abbott said.

The governor’s position represents a tougher approach than his earlier promotion of Texas as a major destination for AI infrastructure.

Texas Still Wants the AI Investment

Despite the new requirements, Texas continues to pursue major data center and artificial intelligence investments.

The Dallas Express reported in February that Texas could overtake Northern Virginia as the world’s largest data center market by 2030, citing JLL’s North America Data Center Report. The report identified Texas as a leading frontier market as AI infrastructure construction accelerates.

Google separately announced a $40 billion Texas investment in November 2025, including new data center campuses and expanded AI infrastructure across parts of the state, according to coverage by The Dallas Express.

The state’s challenge is therefore not whether Texas will continue attracting data center investment, but how rapidly that development can proceed while meeting new requirements for power, water, infrastructure funding, and community impacts.

Abbott Says Projects Must Meet the New Requirements

The governor’s office said PUCT and ERCOT must receive and audit the required information before data center projects can move forward. Public commitments by companies mean they will participate in the disclosure and audit process; they do not automatically guarantee project approval.

“The PUCT and ERCOT cannot make decisions to guarantee grid stability and reliability based on substantially incomplete information,” Abbott said.

Companies that fail to comply with the ERCOT audit process can have their approval denied, according to the governor’s office. Official releases also note that at least one project that could not meet the standards chose to end operations before construction began.

For Texas, Friday’s announcements represent another step in an increasingly structured approach to an industry that state leaders have simultaneously promoted for its economic potential and subjected to greater scrutiny over electricity, water, infrastructure, and local impacts.

The addition of Amazon, Lancium, Cipher Digital, Stack Infrastructure, Anthropic, and Nightpeak Energy brings more major industry participants under Abbott’s stated framework as Texas prepares for continued AI-driven demand.