- At Bloomberg Invest in Dallas, real estate leaders said the governor race could change Texas data center policy, with Crow Holdings’ Michael Hyun calling a crackdown “economic suicide.”
- Gov. Greg Abbott directed regulators to halt data center approvals and audit pending projects, yet the Texas Tribune reported at least $9 million, or 13%, of his fundraising since July 2025 came from data center interests.
- Challenger Gina Hinojosa backs strict guardrails on water, grid capacity and tax breaks, while Hines co-CEO Laura Hines-Pierce says the debate comes down to developer responsibility, not simply for or against.
Texas real estate leaders are watching the governor’s race for clues about what comes next for data centers. The subject took over a real estate panel during the Bloomberg Invest conference in Downtown Dallas, The Real Deal reports.
Crow Holdings’ Michael Hyun warned that a sharp slowdown in data center building would ripple through the Texas economy, and he called any crackdown “economic suicide.”
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The Contractor Squeeze
Hyun also said the boom creates challenges for developers like him. Data center users can outbid other projects for the same contractors. As a result, they pull scarce labor away from other developments.
Abbott’s Pause
Gov. Greg Abbott faces a viable challenge from Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Meanwhile, local backlash against data centers has pushed him to act. He told environmental regulators at the TCEQ to stop approving projects. He also ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas to audit pending projects.
According to Texas Tribune reporting, data center developers and affiliated entities contributed about $9 million to Abbott. That represents 13% of his fundraising since July 2025.
Hinojosa calls Abbott’s moves temporary and politically motivated. Instead, she wants lawmakers to establish firm limits. Those rules would protect water and grid capacity while reining in tax incentives.
Developer Responsibility
Laura Hines-Pierce, who shares the top job at Houston’s Hines, said the issue isn’t simply pro or con. Instead, much depends on how developers behave. Data centers shouldn’t drop into a community like a “Star Wars ship.”
Zoom Out
The pause is already affecting projects. For example, our report on Skybox’s Hutto rezoning covered the uncertainty around grid access. Abbott directed ERCOT to effectively freeze new data center connections. As a result, the developer doesn’t know how much power it can secure until 2028.
Why It Matters
North Texas faces high stakes. The region ranked first among markets to watch for the third year in a row, according to the Urban Land Institute and PwC report. The ranking reflects a surge in industrial development, including data centers. It also points to corporate relocations and the emergence of Y’all Street.
Meanwhile, chip investment is growing too. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is weighing a $45 billion expansion in Sherman. The city sits near Oklahoma, where Texas Instruments and GlobalWafers already operate.
What’s Next
Watch whether the next governor maintains Abbott’s pause, loosens it or adopts Hinojosa’s proposed guardrails.
