AustinIO > US 79 Corridor > Project Mustang

Project Mustang

Project Mustang is the fourth Taylor-area data center and the most contested — a 665-acre campus with its own 477 MW gas power plant at the town's eastern edge, proposed by Big Watt Digital and PowerHouse Data Centers. When Taylor's Planning and Zoning Commission tabled its zoning vote, the developers withdrew their annexation request and announced they would build in unincorporated Williamson County instead, where there is no zoning to answer to. It is the sharpest illustration of the county-jurisdiction pattern reshaping the corridor.

Attribute	Detail
Developers	Big Watt Digital (South Dakota) + PowerHouse Data Centers / PH Digital (Virginia)
Location	3301 FM 112, between FM 112 and US 79, east of Taylor, Williamson County, TX
Distance from Austin	~36 mi NE
Size	665 acres (former farmland), abutting Taylor's eastern city limits
Power model	Behind-the-meter: on-site 477 MW gas generator
Buildout	At least two data centers + substations + gas infrastructure (closed campus)
Jurisdiction	Unincorporated county (ETJ); annexation bid withdrawn Sep 2026
Incentives	None proposed
Status	Proposed; proceeding without annexation

What it is

Project Mustang is a joint venture between Big Watt Digital, a South Dakota developer, and PowerHouse Data Centers (through PH Digital), the Virginia developer also building inside the Tract Caldwell Valley park to the south. The proposal covers 665 acres of former farmland between FM 112 and US 79, immediately east of Taylor, for a closed campus of at least two data centers, substations, and — the element that has drawn the most scrutiny — an on-site 477 MW natural gas power plant to run the load behind the meter. No financial incentives are proposed.

The annexation fight

Mustang is the corridor's clearest case of the county-jurisdiction dynamic. The site sits in Taylor's extraterritorial jurisdiction — outside city limits, where the city has, in its own words, no authority to stop the project or regulate how it is developed. The developers initially sought voluntary annexation into Taylor, which would have let the city impose binding rules on noise, setbacks, air quality, water use, and stormwater. But after a packed August 2026 hearing, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6–2 to table the zoning amendment for 90 days to finish writing its digital-infrastructure guidelines. On September 3, the developers withdrew the annexation application and announced they would build in the unincorporated county regardless — while saying they still hoped to be brought into the city. Negotiations over annexation continue, but the leverage has shifted: the project can proceed without the city's approval.

The dynamic mirrors what happened at CloudBurst and PowerHouse's own Caldwell Valley pad — developers routing around municipal opposition into county jurisdiction, where zoning power is minimal. It is becoming the default move when a Texas town resists a data center: the town's authority ends at its city limits, and the county has almost none.

Corridor position

Mustang is the fourth data center in or near Taylor, joining Project Comal beside the fab, Blueprint Taylor, and the wider US 79 corridor concentration. Its arrival — a fourth campus proposed while the first three are still building — is the velocity story: Samsung's fab and the Oncor transmission it justified are pulling data centers into a town of modest size faster than local government can build the rules to govern them, which is precisely the friction now playing out in Taylor's council chambers. Unlike the grid-connected corridor campuses, Mustang brings its own 477 MW of gas generation, making it the corridor's clearest behind-the-meter play and the one most exposed to the state's August 2026 data center audit of on-site generation.

Last updated September 11, 2026. Acreage, capacity, and developer details per City of Taylor filings and local reporting. The project is proposed and contested; the annexation bid was withdrawn September 2026 but negotiations continue. Status: proceeding in unincorporated county.