The rapid expansion of data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom is driving 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 meet the insatiable demand of hyperscale data center campuses. The turn toward gas reflects a practical reality for the industry: data center campuses need large amounts of always-on power that utilities' existing grids and renewable deployments alone cannot yet deliver at the speed hyperscalers are building.

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 is developed according to current plans, which include seven gas plants. Also this month, Nvidia announced 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. Microsoft, meanwhile, is 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 is 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." That turbine shortage is a key variable to watch: it directly gates how much of the 378 GW in development can actually come online, and on what timeline.

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. Hostility and mistrust toward 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 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. Texas, the heart of the global gas boom according to 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 this approach carries major downsides: it may not alleviate the financial burden on consumers even as it pushes gas power to new heights, gravely imperiling 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 — a tension with the net-zero pledges those companies have publicly made.

Source: OilPrice.com — By Haley Zaremba