(NewsNation) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says data centers coming to the state must bring their own power and reuse their own water.

In Nov. 2025, Google said it was investing $40 billion to build three massive AI data centers in Texas — the largest investment in the state’s history. Anthropic, the startup behind Claude, also announced plans to invest $50 billion in data centers in New York and Texas, with operations set to go online this year.

Abbott has led the charge in the AI boom, and while the trend continues to expand rapidly, he stated the livelihoods of Texans and their quality of life remain his top priority.

“They must reduce electricity costs for residential customers as well as small business customers,” Abbott told NewsNation in an exclusive interview Monday. “Those are bottom-line expectations.”

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Expanding on the issue, he acknowledged the state’s power grid would not be affected by the data centers.

In his words, Abbott said the grid is “by far the strongest in the country,” noting the state has increased electric power generation on the grid by 51% in the last five years.

“These data centers cannot onboard into the Texas power grid without plugging into ERCOT,” added Abbott.

The Department of Energy predicts AI could double nationwide electricity demand by 2030, with Texas now the testing ground.

Texas wants to be reimbursed for border efforts: Abbott

Abbott also said the state should be reimbursed for its efforts and the money spent to help secure the border.

The Lone Star State played a pivotal role in assisting the Trump administration with the border as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration since his second term began.

“The Trump administration has now opened up the window for us to be able to file for reimbursement for the expenses we incurred,” citing the billions of dollars the state spent on the issue.

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The Republican governor also shared how the state will handle it if the border wall’s construction remains unfinished by the end of the Trump administration.

“If his successor is not like-minded and will not continue to secure the border, then Texas will again step up and make sure we use every measure possible to secure the border,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn made his vote for the last reconciliation bill conditional on the administration releasing the funding he secured, a Cornyn spokesperson told NewsNation.

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According to Semafor, Cornyn has been frustrated by a nearly year-long delay in getting the state reimbursed by the Trump administration for more than $10 billion in border security spending that Congress had already approved.

“For four years, President Biden’s disastrous open-border policies wreaked havoc on our nation, and no state did more to fill in the gaps to protect and defend the southern border than Texas,” Cornyn told the publication. “I’m glad the Department of Homeland Security has followed through on my reimbursement provision by opening the application process for the State Border Security Reinforcement Fund to reimburse states like Texas for the billions of dollars spent to try and secure the border after Joe Biden’s dereliction of this federal responsibility.”

Operation Lone Star remains ongoing: Abbott

As drugs and people are still coming into the country illegally, Abbott was firm that “Operation Lone Star” will continue.

The program, launched by Abbott in 2021, was introduced to prevent a rise in border crossings that he largely blamed on President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

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One difference Abbott pointed out about the program is that the state is now working with the federal government in its crackdown on both issues.

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