Emergent Data Center, San Angelo, Texas

Skybox Datacenters, working with the city as Skybox/Emergent, wants to build a data center campus on about 350 acres of city-owned land northeast of San Angelo, in Tom Green County, Texas, near U.S. Highway 67 North and City Farm Road. The San Angelo City Council approved rezoning for the project 6-1 on January 13, 2026, after residents raised concerns at a community meeting the month before. The campus is planned as six four-story buildings and would draw up to 600 megawatts of power, built in phases running from 12 to 18 months after groundbreaking through 2030.

The council first authorized the city manager to negotiate a purchase and sale agreement with Skybox in May 2025, at $50,000 an acre, or about $17.4 million for the land. Michael Looney of the chamber of commerce said the campus could generate $27 million a year in franchise fees and, at an estimated $21 to $22 billion valuation, could nearly triple the city's $7.9 billion property tax base without city incentives. Power would come from the AEP Red Creek substation, which Looney said the city currently uses only about a tenth of, so the project would not take capacity meant for San Angelo.

More than 20 residents spoke at the January 13 council meeting; one said, "There are significant water concerns that I and many other residents have regarding the data center," while another called it "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift and reduce the tax burden on our citizens." Council member Mary Coffey answered complaints about secrecy: "So just because you ask a question and we're not able to give you that answer does not mean it's a lack of transparency. It just means that we're still learning as we go."

The council has since written rules for the project: land use regulations passed 6-0 on May 19, 2026, a sewer and discharge ordinance 5-1 on June 2, and a water usage ordinance 7-0 on June 16. The water ordinance requires closed-loop cooling and caps the initial fill at 8 gallons per square foot of building, which for a 250,000-square-foot building works out to roughly 2 million gallons once and about 60,000 gallons a year in make-up. Mayor Tom Thompson said: "If water use is not sustainable, it should not move forward."

The city says it has received no development application yet, and any final project still needs council approval in an open meeting, along with a 380 agreement setting out community benefits and local hiring.