Data Centers Are Driving a New U.S. Natural Gas Buildout

The expansion of data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom is causing a natural gas revival in the United States. Planned gas-fired power capacity tied to data centers nearly doubled in the first half of 2026 alone, as Big Tech players turn to massive new power plants to support the insatiable demand of hyperscale data center campuses.Amazon is currently building a gas-fired power plant in Texas that is set to become the single-biggest source of power-related emissions in the entire United States if it’s developed according to current plans, which include seven gas plants. In addition, just this month, Nvidia announced that it would team up with Japan’s SoftBank and the federal government to build the United States’ largest fossil-fuel plant to power an Ohio project by OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT. And, not to be left out, Microsoft is currently in talks with Chevron for a $7 billion gas-powered data center in Texas.A June report from Business Insider found that "if all data centers permitted through 2025 come online, they will use between 224.3 terawatt-hours and 358.8 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, an increase of 50% over the previous year across the range." For reference, that's approximately as much energy as all of Mexico -- a country with a population of more than 130 million people -- uses in a year.As of the first six months of 2026, the United States had 378 GW of gas-fired power capacity in development, up 50 percent in just six months, according to Global Energy Monitor. Of that, 189 GW was tied directly to data centers. The U.S. now accounts for roughly one-third of all planned gas-fired capacity worldwide, while Texas is adding new proposals faster than anywhere else.However, according to a recent report from nonpartisan global news outlet Semafor, “it remains unclear if all of those plants will ultimately be built, since most projects are in early development and the demand surge has led to a bottleneck for gas turbines, with some suppliers warning of yearslong lead times.”Semafor also warns that political pressures and social backlash could lead to a cool-off period for data center development, which would also cause planned gas-powered energy additions to taper off. Hatred and mistrust of data centers is increasingly emerging as an issue that both sides of the aisle can align on. As data centers proliferate around the country and the world, the cost of their insatiable energy demand is largely falling on consumers, whether they benefit from AI or not."We are witnessing a massive transfer of wealth from residential utility customers to large corporations—data centers and large utilities and their corporate parents, which profit from building additional energy infrastructure," Maryland People's Counsel David Lapp recently told Business Insider last year. "Utility regulation is failing to protect residential customers, contributing to an energy affordability crisis.In the United States, an overwhelming majority of voters – 75 percent – indicated that they oppose the development of new data centers in their area, according to a recent Heatmap poll. And Texas, the heart of the global gas boom according to the Global Energy Monitor, is no exception. Semafor reports that the Lone Star state has “recently backtracked on its welcoming stance towards data centers,” going so far as to pause new projects altogether.The Trump administration has tried to address the public’s growing discontent with footing Big Tech’s energy bill by requiring AI firms to supply their own energy for new projects. But there are some major downsides to this approach, which may not even alleviate the financial burden on consumers at the same time that it pushes gas power to new heights, gravely imperilling Silicon Valley’s decarbonization commitments. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon all saw their emissions jump by double-digit figures year-over-year, with AI-driven data center growth as the main driver.By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads From Oilprice.comAramco Finds a New Way to Keep Saudi Crude Flowing to ChinaMIT Uses AI to Challenge a Century-Old Process for Mass Ammonia ProductionQatar and Kuwait Restore 70% of Pre-War Oil Exports Through Hormuz