🤠 The Future Runs Through Texas

Why the Lone Star State is a Hot-Bed for Economic Development and Culture, Plus My Q&A with a Texas Data Center CEO

Author

Katie Perry
September 30, 2025

Welcome to Tuesday Thursday Saturday! Here, I share a snapshot of trending stories across business, tech, and culture, plus some updates from the daily financial news show I host. - KP

The Big Story: Texas in Transition

The last time I was down on Wall Street at the New York Stock Exchange, I was halfway through the security line before I realized what I had done.

I wore cowboy boots. To the NYSE. Who does this?

The dress code is strict there, but luckily, cowboy boots are not the biggest offender — at least it wasn’t sneakers — and they let me in, no problem. Maybe I got lucky, or perhaps the recent economic momentum in Texas is rubbing off down on Wall Street.

Texas has always been a state that looms large in America’s economic story. For generations, oil and gas were the lifeblood of its economy. The discovery of Spindletop in 1901 set off an energy boom that turned Texas into a global powerhouse. Ranching, farming, and later aerospace and defense filled out the picture. By the middle of the twentieth century, the state had cemented itself as a crucial supplier of energy, food, and manufacturing to the nation and the world.

The late 70s/80s soap opera “Dallas” centered around a wealthy family in Texas.

Over time, Texas has learned how to balance tradition and reinvention. Houston became the center of the oil business, Dallas grew into a corporate hub, Austin branded itself as a creative and technology capital, and San Antonio anchored defense and healthcare. Energy still defined much of the state, but the economic base widened. By the early 2000s, Texas had become home to major universities, global companies, and a growing tech ecosystem.

That foundation matters because it sets the stage for the state’s next chapter. Texas’ deep ties to energy, its open land, its business climate, and its sheer scale make it uniquely positioned to capture the opportunities emerging from artificial intelligence and the huge power demands that come with it.

AI and the Energy Curve

AI can feel abstract in the context of investment opportunities, but there are very tangible aspects to it, namely, clusters of computers housed in data centers, and facilities that need constant, reliable electricity. Running AI workloads requires WAY more power than traditional internet services. Training a large model can draw as much electricity as a small city. And nowhere is better suited to meet that demand than Texas.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is forecasting a surge in electricity demand unlike anything in modern history. Data centers already account for several gigawatts of load, and by the end of the decade, that number could more than triple. West Texas, with its wide-open land and existing energy infrastructure, is squarely in the middle of this story. The Permian Basin, long known for oil, is now also a frontier for new natural gas plants and solar farms built specifically to feed data centers.

Permian Basin, via ResearchGate

Companies like Vistra, NRG, and Calpine are adding generation capacity in the Permian to keep up. In Monahans, Vistra is tripling the size of its gas plant. In Bosque County, Calpine is pairing a new hyperscale data campus with local generation. On top of that, solar developers are building some of the largest projects in the country near Milam County, including one designed to help power OpenAI’s new Stargate complex. Each project creates thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of permanent roles, and ripple effects in housing, retail, and services.

Energy leads, and everything else follows. Only now, the energy demand is coming from AI rather than oil rigs. The Basin is still pumping record amounts of crude, but it’s also becoming a launchpad for the digital economy.

Capital Markets Head West

This growth story isn’t only about AI and data, though. Texas is starting to flex in finance, too. The planned launch of the Texas Stock Exchange, headquartered in Dallas, is a symbolic break from Wall Street’s monopoly. With backing from BlackRock, Citadel, and Charles Schwab, TXSE aims to give companies an alternative to New York or Nasdaq. Locals are already calling it “Y’all Street,” a nod to the state’s independent streak.

In response, the NYSE launched NYSE Texas, relocating its Chicago operations to Dallas and creating a fully electronic equities platform.

And at the same time, big names are changing their legal homes. Tesla moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, joining its physical headquarters in Austin. Zion Oil & Gas followed suit, and other public companies have tested the waters. Even Meta has been reported to be exploring reincorporation. These moves may sound technical, but they show that Texas is becoming a place where capital itself gets anchored.

Finance, energy, and technology are converging in Texas in a way that feels new. And that convergence is drawing more people and more money into the state.

People on the Move

Migration trends back this up. For years, Texas has been the number one destination for Americans leaving other states. California tops the list of senders, followed by New York and Florida. People are drawn by lower housing costs, no state income tax, and job opportunities. Dallas, Houston, and Austin have absorbed the bulk of this migration, but smaller West Texas cities are also seeing growth, particularly where energy and infrastructure projects are breaking ground.

This hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the Lone Star State. Rising housing costs in Austin and Dallas have slowed inflows. Insurance prices and extreme weather risks are new pressures. Still, the state continues to add residents faster than most of the country, and international migration is now a major piece of the puzzle. More people mean more labor, more consumption, and more economic depth.

West Texas Rising

West Texas has long been viewed as rugged and resource-driven. The Permian Basin defined it. But today, it’s becoming a test case for how the digital economy and traditional energy can overlap. Midland and Odessa remain the core, with oil services and corporate offices. Surrounding counties like Ward, Reeves, and Howard are catching attention thanks to new power plants, solar projects, and logistics corridors along I-20 and I-10.

Take Monahans. Once a quiet oilfield town, it’s now the site of one of the largest new natural gas builds in the state. Reeves County is positioning itself as a hub for solar and storage. Big Spring in Howard County is reviving as a rail and industrial junction. Even smaller towns like Sweetwater and Snyder, once early wind pioneers, are being looked at again for repower projects tied to AI loads.

These places are growing into magnets for service jobs, housing development, and regional services like healthcare and education. Not surprisingly, they’re also where the strain shows: water scarcity, limited housing stock, and workforce training gaps are very real. But if Texas can solve those challenges, West Texas could emerge as one of the most important economic regions in the country for the age of AI.

The Texification of Culture

Alongside the economic development, Texas culture is spilling into the mainstream in ways that would have been hard to imagine a decade ago. Houston-native Beyoncé released a country album that topped the charts. Post Malone, a Dallas native (although he was technically born in my hometown of Syracuse, NY), debuted a Western-inspired fashion line at Paris Fashion Week. I attended a pop-up in New York’s posh SoHo neighborhood a couple of weekends ago, and copped some overpriced gear of my own.

Beyond the cow prints and cowboy boots showing up in major fashion houses, country music has moved into the cultural center, with stars like Kacey Musgraves, Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, and Lainey Wilson pulling in stadium-sized audiences across the country. The blending of culture and commerce makes the state’s influence even larger. Texas is where America gets its oil, gas, and electricity. Increasingly, it’s also where America gets its stories, its music, and its fashion cues.

Everything’s Bigger In…

Texas has always been about scale. Big land, big resources, big Davy Crockett energy. The difference now is that those traits are being applied to the needs of a digital economy. AI requires enormous amounts of power, and Texas is one of the few places with the capacity and the political will to deliver it. Capital markets are expanding westward, with Tesla and the Texas Stock Exchange putting down roots. People are still moving in, bringing both opportunity and pressure. And the state’s culture is showing up everywhere from Spotify playlists to Paris Fashion Week.

The opportunity is apparent: new jobs, stronger tax bases, a deeper role in shaping national and global markets. The risks are equally real: infrastructure strain, climate stress, and overreliance on a single growth story. But Texas has been here before. The oil shocks of the 1980s, the tech bust of the 2000s, the pandemic slump — each of these tested the state. Each time, it adjusted and came back stronger.

And West Texas? This is no longer just oil country or the backdrop for “Friday Night Lights.” It could be where the future of AI gets built. If that happens, it won’t just be a win for Texas. It’ll be another reminder that the state’s economic story is really America’s economic story. Giddy up.

New Q&A: Discussing the AI Energy Gold Rush with New Era Energy & Digital CEO E. Will Gray II

On the topic of Texas, I recently sat down with E. Will Gray II, a Texas native and CEO of New Era Energy and Digital (NUAI). He talked about how his company is meeting AI energy demand with natural gas in the Permian Basin. Here are the highlights:

⇢ 2:11 | Unlike many peers that started with Bitcoin mining, New Era skipped that phase and went directly into AI infrastructure. $NUAI ( ▼ 16.32% )  

⇢ 5:00 | Leveraging deep oil-and-gas expertise and negative natural gas pricing in the Permian Basin, the company is building large-scale data centers adjacent to pipelines, bridging the energy and digital worlds.

⇢ 6:00 | Why hyperscalers are moving away from expensive metro hubs, and New Era positions its West Texas sites as ideal for AI learning centers where lower latency isn’t critical but abundant, low-cost power is a major advantage.

⇢ 12:25 | Differentiation lies in “behind the meter” power generation, reducing dependence on the congested Texas grid (ERCOT) and ensuring faster, more reliable energy delivery for AI customers.

⇢ 17:00 | Success in West Texas requires more than buying land: New Era leverages decades of local relationships, permitting know-how, and land negotiation expertise to overcome complexities like mineral rights and environmental restrictions.

Now, Here’s a Chart

All this talk of Texas and the economic opportunities ahead made me curious about where the state currently stands in terms of overall education. According to WalletHub’s Most and Least Educated States Report, Texas ranks 41 out of 50.

The top 5 most educated states are: Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Colorado, and Connecticut. The bottom 5 (least educated) states are: West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

WalletHub compared all 50 states across 18 metrics that examine the key factors of a well-educated population: educational attainment and school quality.

Reading List

Tuesday Thursday Saturday is written by Katie Perry, owner of Ursa Major Media, which provides fractional marketing services and strategy in software, tech, consumer products, professional services, and other industries. She is also the co-host of Stocktwits’ Daily Rip Live show.

Disclaimer: The contents here reflect recaps and summaries of pre-reported or published data, news, and trends. I have cited sources and context for the information provided to the best of my ability. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform and educate on larger trends shaping business and culture — this is NOT investment advice. As an investor, you should always do your own research before making any decisions about your money or your portfolio.