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Markets · Data centers
West Texas industrial land: data center, port and air-cargo demand
West Texas carries 2.9 GW of data center capacity under construction according to Cushman & Wakefield, and JLL identifies it as the single largest beneficiary of frontier-market migration. Data as of Q2 2026. Three named campuses account for most of it, and all of them use on-site gas generation rather than the interconnection queue.
Key takeaways
- 2.9 GW is under construction according to Cushman & Wakefield (Q2 2026).
- Stargate Abilene reaches 1.2 GW at completion, developed by Crusoe.
- Shackelford County is 2.0 GW on 1,200 acres, developed by Vantage with an on-site gas microgrid.
- Milam County is 1.2 GW, developed by SB Energy.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
West Texas in numbers
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Data center under construction | 2.9 GW (Cushman & Wakefield) | Q2 2026 |
| Stargate Abilene | 1.2 GW at completion, developer Crusoe | 2026 |
| Shackelford County | 2.0 GW on 1,200 acres, developer Vantage, on-site gas microgrid | 2026 |
| Milam County | 1.2 GW, developer SB Energy | 2026 |
What buyers are paying for here
This is the market where the standard premiums invert, and a seller who applies them mechanically will misprice the parcel. The roughly 2x premium for land within half a mile of a substation assumes grid service is the path to power. Here the three largest campuses are generating on site.
The roughly 2.4x premium for 230kV or 500kV service is similarly conditional. It still applies to any project intending to export or to draw from the grid, but Shackelford County's on-site gas microgrid shows what buyers will accept instead: gas supply, water for cooling, and enough contiguous acreage to site generation alongside load.
Scale dominates. Vantage took 1,200 acres for 2.0 GW. This is the large-greenfield end of the national range, where the per-acre number is set by what the site can host rather than by comparables, and a published land price band per acre for this market is not publicly available.
Apply the published substation-distance and service-voltage premiums to a parcel in West Texas with the powered land premium calculator.
What is under construction within 100 miles
Stargate Abilene reaches 1.2 GW at completion and is developed by Crusoe.
The Shackelford County campus is 2.0 GW on 1,200 acres, developed by Vantage with an on-site gas microgrid.
The Milam County project is 1.2 GW, developed by SB Energy.
In aggregate Cushman & Wakefield counts 2.9 GW under construction in West Texas as of Q2 2026, and JLL identifies the region as the single largest beneficiary of frontier-market migration.
The constraint
The constraint and the opportunity here are the same fact: these sites use on-site natural gas generation to bypass the interconnection queue entirely.
That changes what a parcel needs in order to be worth buying. Queue position, which is the primary asset in Northern Virginia and Columbus, is close to irrelevant to a buyer who intends to generate. Gas supply, water, acreage and the absence of neighbours become the priced attributes.
For a landowner it means the comparable set is not other data center land. It is other sites that can host generation and load together, which is a much smaller universe and a much shorter list of credible buyers.
Who covers West Texas
Brad Cohen covers West Texas for Landside Partners. Send one parcel and he will return a written read on what it is worth against the demand above, using data as of Q2 2026.
No fee. One parcel. One page. Usually back within five business days.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.
Related research
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- Phoenix industrial land — Phoenix: More than 260 MW of colocation absorption in the first half of 2026 and 1.7 GW under construction. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Chicago industrial land — Chicago: The highest data center asking rents in North America at $200 to $230 per kW per month. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Savannah industrial land — Savannah: Ocean Terminal is adding 2.0 million TEU of container-only capacity at a $1.54 billion cost. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Charleston industrial land — Charleston: Charleston Harbor at 52 feet is the deepest on the United States East Coast. Data as of Q2 2026.
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