SpaceX has removed approximately 444 acres of land near Starbase from Brownsville, Texas, city jurisdiction. The move, approved by Brownsville commissioners on August 29, places the property outside the city’s zoning authority three days before the city voted to begin a 90-day moratorium process on new data centers. SemiAnalysis reports that SpaceX plans a data center on the site, though the company has not publicly confirmed the property’s use. At the same meeting, SpaceX agreed to provide up to $220 million for regional water infrastructure.
Researchers at SemiAnalysis mapped more than 300 enacted local moratoriums and bans against the U.S. data-center pipeline. They initially identified 77 campuses, representing roughly 20 gigawatts, inside jurisdictions with data-center restrictions. After checking each project against local rules, the firm found that only three were actually being delayed. Those three projects total 1,525 megawatts of delayed capacity and include an Amazon campus in Ohio. Adding New York’s statewide executive action lifts the estimate of delayed capacity to about 2.3 GW.
SemiAnalysis notes that most restrictions do not translate into actual delays. A moratorium may not cover the specific site, may expire before a developer needs approval, or may arrive after key permits are already in hand. Developers can also qualify for exemptions, redesign projects, or move them elsewhere. The firm forecasts roughly 38 GW of U.S. data-center capacity coming online in 2027, more than double 2026, with 22 GW already under construction.
The firm suggests that restrictions could accelerate "behind-the-meter" development, where data centers generate electricity onsite instead of relying entirely on the grid. It tracks 75 GW of firm equipment orders for such projects, with more of that capacity headed to Texas than any other state. This trend could benefit companies like GE Vernova and Bloom Energy. GE Vernova’s gas-power backlog and slot reservations rose from 100 GW to 116 GW in the second quarter, and the company expects at least 125 GW by year-end. Bloom reported second-quarter revenue of $1.07 billion, up 166% year over year, and stated that all major U.S. hyperscalers have approved its onsite power systems for their AI infrastructure.
