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BT Ben Thompson Ben Thompson Writes Stratechery, a subscription newsletter analyzing the business strategy behind tech and media companies, and has built a reputation for framing how platfo...

“The presumed backstop for all data center opposition has always been, we'll just build it in Texas.”

Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson · Tech Strategy & Big Tech · November 2026

“The presumed backstop for all data center opposition has always been, we'll just build it in Texas.” — Ben Thompson, Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Context

Andrew Sharp had just raised the newly elected Texas governor's promised data center moratorium. Ben Thompson explains why a pause in Texas, with its own grid and cheap gas, matters more than any local ballot result.

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Transcript

Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson Around 06:42 into the episode
Ben Thompson

wow. This is a very, very educational episode. That's right. So many

Andrew Sharp

fun facts here. No, but

Ben Thompson

that's why that is the one that really matters because the presumed backstop for all data center opposition has always been, we'll just build it in Texas. Everybody's

Andrew Sharp

going to Texas. Yeah. I mean, they were on track to be home to 25% of U.S. data center capacity by 2030. Hundreds of people. If you're talking to anyone,

Ben Thompson

the assumption is it was going to be way more than that. Wow. Like just going forward, yeah, it's fine. New York's going to pass a moratorium. Even Ohio, which is a very significant portion of it, that's, you know, might end up being a lot of people. Well, we have 50 different states

Andrew Sharp

that can compete for these projects, but infrastructure-wise, Texas, obviously. Has all kinds of advantages and may not be replaceable. Well,

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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