Texas should become heart of America’s ‘AI belt.’ Here’s how

Before it was called “Silicon Valley,” Santa Clara Valley was best known for producing 30% of the world’s prunes. The technology epicenter we revere today didn’t form accidentally. Leaders saw the future and bet big.

Texas is at a similar technological precipice. With OpenAI and Apple choosing to build out major artificial intelligence data centers and server manufacturing plants in our state, there’s a rare and urgent window for us to lead the next wave of tech innovation.

The key to growing Texas into a tech powerhouse lies in three fundamentals: talent, energy and infrastructure.

Let’s start with talent. Beyond capital or infrastructure, Silicon Valley amassed a concentration of visionary people. Labs and server farms can be built anywhere, but the minds inside them hold irreplaceable value. Fortunately, a large share of that talent already calls Texas home.

In Houston, we have institutions that have pushed the boundaries of science like the Johnson Space Center. In Austin, a growing base of big tech talent is already reshaping the local economy, and Apple and OpenAI’s new facilities will only accelerate that trend. Talent growth often ebbs and flows with the market, so we must build on Texas’ long-term fundamentals to attract and retain tomorrow’s best minds.

For Texas to become an AI stronghold, state and private firms must reinvest in our tech talent pipeline at the academic level. At Texas A&M University, pioneers like NASA’s former robotics chief Dr. Robert Ambrose are fostering a new generation of “hard tech” talent bringing AI into the physical world through advanced robotics. We must aggressively expand academic programs that promote this kind of interdisciplinary innovation to build an edge that’s impossible to outsource.

Of course, AI doesn’t run on talent alone. It runs on power. As more powerful AI models come online, the infrastructure required to run and cool them becomes immense. Texas holds a natural advantage as the nation’s energy capital and, unlike Silicon Valley, we’ve got the land to support power-intensive technology.

Powering next-gen tech in Texas also means tackling grid reliability and water scarcity to ensure 24/7 operation. We can’t afford to be reactive: If we want to position ourselves as the default home for AI growth, we need to invest now in long-term, resilient infrastructure solutions.

Most importantly, Texas has a uniquely pro-business mindset, making it easy for innovators to scale quickly and take smart risks while other states tie them up in red tape.

How do we pay for the necessary investments? Funding for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent pipeline, as well as infrastructure improvements, can come from a combination of partnerships with private companies and reappropriated taxpayer funds, since these programs’ economic improvements will benefit every Texan. To that end, Texas could revive and scale a Tech Reinvestment Program, inspired by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and redirect a portion of the new $1 billion school voucher budget to it, while filling the rest in with private funding.

A $750 million strategic investment in the first year would generate employment and innovation wins to attract further state and private investment. This initial funding would support faculty hiring and graduate fellowships, build and upgrade robotics and AI labs, strengthen power-grid resilience, and fund water system improvements, all while seeding K-12 STEM pipelines.

Put it all together – top-tier talent, abundant energy, infrastructure capacity, and a founder-first mentality – and Texas could become the heart of America’s “AI Belt.”

But here’s the catch: We haven’t fully recognized this potential. And if we wait too long to act, another state will.

Texas doesn’t need to follow someone else’s playbook. We’ve got the raw ingredients and the momentum to write our own. The next five years will determine whether we lead the future of AI or watch it pass us by. Let’s move.