Overview
1.2 GW Behind the Meter
San Marcos Data Center I is a 1.2 GW AI campus on the I-35 South Data Center Corridor, between Austin and San Antonio, powered entirely by natural gas on site. CloudBurst Data Centers, a Denver developer founded in 2022, and its design-build partner Evolve Holdings, both led by Tye A. Johnson, broke ground in November 2025 and target the first 50 MW for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Unlike the powered-land parks nearby, where a developer leases pads to others, CloudBurst and Evolve develop and build the campus themselves: up to 1.2 GW in three 400 MW phases and 10 to 12 buildings. The 706-acre campus is valued at $14.5B.
| Developers | CloudBurst Data Centers and Evolve Holdings, under Tye A. Johnson |
|---|---|
| Location | 2955 Francis Harris Lane, Guadalupe County, on the Hays County line between San Marcos and New Braunfels |
| Capacity | Up to 1.2 GW in three 400 MW phases; 10 to 12 buildings |
| Power | On-site natural gas; no grid connection needed |
| Gas supply | Energy Transfer Oasis pipeline, 10-year deal, up to 450,000 MMBtu a day, more than 1.8 GW of generation potential |
| Cooling | Closed-loop water; test beds for liquid and hybrid cooling |
| Project value | $14.5B |
| Land | 706-acre campus |
| County approval | Guadalupe County Commissioners Court, 3-2, April 21, 2026 |
| Status | Under construction since November 2025; first 50 MW targeted Q4 2026 |
Behind the meter
More Gas Than the Campus Needs
CloudBurst signed a 10-year agreement with Energy Transfer, the Dallas pipeline company, for up to 450,000 MMBtu a day of firm gas through the Oasis pipeline, enough for more than 1.8 GW of generation against 1.2 GW of planned load. The headroom covers redundancy and backup across the phases and keeps the campus off the ERCOT interconnection queue and transmission build-out that gate grid-connected projects.
That puts it with the other gas-powered Texas campuses, Sandow Lakes, Fermi America and the Permian sites, with an unusually high ratio of gas supply to load. The cost is emissions and air quality over the life of the plant, and a gas plant needs a TCEQ air permit, which the state's September 2026 pause on data center permits now holds up for new applications; see Behind-the-Meter Power.
The county
Approved by Guadalupe County
The campus lies outside the city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction of both San Marcos and New Braunfels, so the county decides. Guadalupe County Commissioners Court approved the development agreement and tax abatement 3-2 on April 21, 2026, against a minimum investment of $500M. The agreement runs with the land and is void if the property is ever used for housing.
County approval is becoming the common route on the corridor: Tract Caldwell Valley's PowerHouse pad was de-annexed from Uhland into Caldwell County, and Project Mustang threatened to build in Williamson County before Taylor annexed it on the city's terms.
The corridor
Neighbors on I-35 South
Sabey Data Centers is planning a 786-acre campus nearby; San Marcos council opened development-agreement talks in June 2025. Sabey's Round Rock campus hosts TACC's Horizon supercomputer. To the north toward Uhland, Tract Caldwell Valley, Prime and Edged extend the corridor. Cushman & Wakefield counted 7,823 MW planned, 615 MW under construction and 1,154 MW operating in the Austin and San Antonio markets at the end of March 2026.
Record
Dataset Record
- Dataset
- Texas data centers (texas_data_centers): CloudBurst San Marcos Data Center
- Sources
- CloudBurst, Energy Transfer, Guadalupe County Commissioners Court, Cushman & Wakefield, local reporting
- Capacity
- The 1.8 GW is gas-supply generation potential, not IT load
- Last verified
- Q4 2026