DALLAS — President Donald Trump has entered the Texas data center debate. In the same week that Gov. Greg Abbott called for state regulators to conduct a sweeping audit of data centers wanting to connect to Texas' power grid — effectively putting those projects on hold — Trump called Texas' opposition to data centers a mistake. In a wide-ranging video interview published Friday, Trump ...

Dallas TX1 data center electrical room is pictured at the NTT Data center campus on March 4, 2026, in Garland, Texas.

Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

DALLAS — President Donald Trump has entered the Texas data center debate.

In the same week that Gov. Greg Abbott called for state regulators to conduct a sweeping audit of data centers wanting to connect to Texas' power grid — effectively putting those projects on hold — Trump called Texas' opposition to data centers a mistake.

In a wide-ranging video interview published Friday, Trump discussed data centers and artificial intelligence on a national level but nodded to the drama playing out in communities across the Lone Star State.

"What is going to be the political impact of data centers?" Punchbowl News journalist Jake Sherman asked. "I know you've taken action. Congress is going to try to take action. It's going to be in the next 10 years, a big political issue."

Trump began his answer saying "whoever wins AI just wins," then turned to Texas.

"I saw Texas the other day is sort of against data centers," Trump said. "I think it's a mistake."

Trump said he wasn't taking a position, clarifying: "I just think it's a mistake because there are communities that want it. When a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come into that community."

He said data centers are "tremendously important" for economics even comparing it to the state's massive oil and gas industry.

"For Texas to say no to data centers is a mistake in the sense that it could be bigger than oil," Trump said. "Data centers could be bigger than oil."

More broadly, Trump said some of the data centers he's seen are the "most incredible buildings" rather than unsightly, and he touted how data centers are now generating their own electricity on site.

"Now, when they build a plant, they're becoming like a utility, a public utility," Trump said. "A big portion of the building is now their own generator. We're not taking that from the public. We're not taking that from the grid. Then, at a very cheap price and maybe for nothing, they're taking their excess electricity, which will be a lot, and they're putting it back into the grid."

Texas has had a wave of data center growth in recent years because of its abundance of land, relatively cheap and available power, and its business-friendly regulation environment. Dallas-Fort Worth was recently ranked the No. 1 primary data center market, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Data center developments hit a hurdle of community backlash in recent months, though. Grassroots efforts across the state gaining traction as residents raise concerns about the impacts massive facilities will have on their health and where they live. Though data center facilities are improving their technology, worries linger about how much water and electricity they require to operate.

The uproar has prompted some local officials to contemplate data center moratoriums while others tout the economic benefits such projects can create.

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