Shown is CyrusOne’s first data center in San Antonio. It now has six data centers and two more on the way in the San Antonio region.
CyrusOne
Amid the uncertainty surrounding data centers, one Dallas-based company aims to earn the trust of Texas residents.
CyrusOne has 15 data centers in Texas, located on campuses in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. It’s also planning to add facilities in Castroville, Clifton and Fairfield.
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It’s part of a boom that’s set to make Texas the world’s largest data center market — surpassing Virginia — amid the growth of artificial intelligence and cloud-based technologies, according to a recent report from real estate firm JLL. There are at least 335 operational facilities in the state and more than 248 planned projects.
READ MORE: Dallas company plans $500M data center in Castroville, expanding its San Antonio-area footprint
But amid this new wave of development, the industry remains shrouded in mystery, with several companies keeping mum about specific details of their centers. Nearby residents, city officials and even state leaders have expressed concerns about the industry’s lack of information.
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Katy Hancock, the company’s vice president of community affairs, said that while CyrusOne can’t invite guests into its facilities, it wants to be transparent about its operations in Texas and beyond.
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“We are doing everything we can to show up earlier, come into the community, introduce ourselves, share details of our projects and meet with community leaders and neighbors before we make final plans,” Hancock said. “We want to take the time to explain who we are and how we do things in those conversations and hope to assuage some concerns.”
Statewide data center audit
Not only does CyrusOne want to provide information to educate concerned parties about its new development, but it’s now required to do so.
On Aug. 3, Gov. Greg Abbott halted the approval of data centers until the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas can audit proposed projects seeking to connect to the state’s electric grid.
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RELATED: Greg Abbott orders sweeping audit of Texas data centers amid power grid concerns
In a letter to both agencies, Abbott said some data centers failed to comply fully with a PUC survey measuring water and electricity usage. Abbott wrote that this lack of compliance “hinders (the agencies’) ability to make fully informed decisions.”
The governor noted that ERCOT is considering requests that would add 474 gigawatts of demand, which is “more than five times Texas’ record peak electricity demand for ERCOT.” About 90% of the applications are from data centers.
“That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid,” he said.
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The new comprehensive verification and audit requires detailed disclosures about each project’s electricity and water use, dependence on the ERCOT grid, on-site power generation, public financial assistance, community impacts, and ownership and controlling interests. Projects that fail to provide the information may be denied a connection to the grid.
Locally, several council members want to adopt a moratorium on data centers — freezing plans and permits for the sprawling, power-hungry facilities popping up in the area. In a recent memo, Council Members Ric Galvan, Ivalis Meza Gonzalez and Teri Castillo asked City Manager Erik Walsh to schedule a special meeting by Aug. 31 to discuss the proposed ban.
MORE DATA CENTER NEWS: San Antonio council members push to temporarily stop new data centers
“As a company proudly headquartered in Texas, CyrusOne shares Governor Abbott’s commitment to responsible data center development,” a spokesperson said. “We support the goals he has outlined, and we are confident that we already reflect the best-in-class development and operating principles his directives are designed to encourage. We believe transparency, accountability and thoughtful planning are essential, and remain committed to working collaboratively with state leaders, regulators, utilities and local communities to help create economic opportunities and lasting local benefits.”
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Transparency
Hancock believes some bad actors may be responsible for the general distrust of the industry.
“The demand is there from businesses, the federal government, from research, from science, and that has spurred a rapid increase in delivery of data centers,” she said. “A lot of new companies are coming online, and not all of them are experienced like we are with a solid slate of customers, ready to occupy these data centers. That’s created some confusion. It’s brought about some speculative developments that didn’t come to pass, and I think those sorts of situations resulted in a deterioration of trust and skepticism about our industry.”
CyrusOne was founded in 2000 and builds data centers for major hyperscalers, such as Google, Meta and Microsoft, as well as enterprise and government customers.
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The Dallas company has six data centers and two more on the way in the San Antonio region. Its latest development will be an estimated $500 million, 460,000-square-foot facility in Castroville, which is expected to be completed in June 2027.
READ MORE: Texas Data Center Tracker: See where data centers are planned or operating near you
CyrusOne said it supports hundreds of jobs across operations, with one center typically employing about 40 people full-time. For the Castroville development, the company plans to partner with community colleges and technical education programs to support scholarships, apprenticeships, internships and career pathways into data center operations.
“San Antonio is centralized, has great network connectivity, a skilled workforce and ample land,” Hancock said. “What I think made it a boom for data center development is that it has a historic rail terminus. As fiber optic networks were being built, they followed along the rail lines. That robust fiber optic network made it an attractive area for data center development.”
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One of the largest concerns surrounding data centers is their energy usage. For the Castroville project, CyrusOne is building not just the data center but also a substation and transmission and distribution systems.
“We’re going to cover every dime associated with bringing power to the project, and in so doing, strengthen the grid,” Hancock said. “We invest tens of millions to build substations, transmission and distributing systems, and then by connecting to the grid, we are able to curtail power during peak demand.”
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To mitigate noise, CyrusOne builds sound attenuation equipment into its developments as standard operating procedure.
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Water usage is another issue for data center opponents.
“I feel like there is a tendency to paint every data center with the same broad brush, and that’s easier than taking the time to learn the nuances, but we’re doing things differently,” Hancock said.
Fifteen years ago, CyrusOne switched to closed-loop cooling, which circulates the same coolant, typically water mixed with treatment chemicals, through pipes to remove heat from equipment. This system takes about 50,000 gallons to fill it.
Once it’s filled, “we use around 1,100 gallons a day,” Hancock said. By comparison, large data centers that don’t use such systems can use up to 5 million gallons a day, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
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CyrusOne is setting up community meetings to provide Texas residents “the information they need to feel comfortable having us as a neighbor,” Hancock said.
CEO John Hatem led a 200-person community meeting in Jack County, where CyrusOne is proposing a massive multi-hundred-million-dollar data center campus. In Medina County, CyrusOne is working with the economic development organization GoMedina to do the same.
“We’re proud of what we do, and we’re glad to talk about it,” she said. “We’re doing our best to communicate more and earlier, and we invest in a significant way to be a good neighbor.”