December 3, 2025
A major new data center project in Texas highlights the industry's intensifying search for reliable power and sustainable water solutions to support the demands of artificial intelligence and hyperscale computing. A newly formed company, Nexus Data Centers, has proposed building a massive 612-megawatt campus powered by natural gas on a 2,000-acre site outside Hubbard, Texas.
The plans, which were presented to local residents last month, call for a facility of a scale typically associated with cloud hyperscalers. Nexus has applied for permits to construct natural gas turbines and backup diesel generators to operate the campus "behind the meter," indicating a dedicated, on-site power generation strategy. While the financing, timeline, and potential anchor tenant for the project remain undisclosed, local reports indicate it promises significant tax revenue and hundreds of jobs for the region.
A defining feature of the proposed campus is a partnership with AirJoule Technologies to address critical water sustainability concerns. The companies have agreed to an industrial-scale Water Purchase Agreement (WPA). Under this framework, AirJoule intends to deploy its proprietary water harvesting systems at the Nexus campus in the second half of 2026. The technology is designed to extract moisture from the atmosphere using waste heat from the data center's power generation and computing operations, producing high-purity water for reuse in cooling and other systems.
“Water sustainability is a critical consideration for data center operators,” said Nexus Data Centers CEO Ivan Van der Walt. “AirJoule’s waste-heat-to-water approach provides a superior solution by utilizing thermal energy we are already generating.” Matt Jore, CEO of AirJoule, noted that identifying Nexus as a collaborator “underscores the progress we’ve made” and supports validation that the platform can address urgent water security needs for industrial customers.
The project underscores a broader trend in the data center industry, particularly in power-constrained markets like Texas, where operators are increasingly turning to on-site generation with natural gas to ensure capacity for AI workloads. Simultaneously, it represents a significant real-world test for emerging technologies aimed at reducing the sector's environmental footprint, specifically its water consumption, by creating a circular resource model within the facility's own operations.
Source: datacenterdynamics
Proposed 600MW Texas Data Center Campus to Pair Natural Gas with Novel Water Harvesting Tech
