Abbott highlights Texas AI boom, with Houston projects on the horizon

An aerial view of Stargate’s AI data center in Abilene. Photo courtesy OpenAI.

AI investments are booming in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott says. And Houston is poised to benefit from this surge.

At a recent Texas Economic Development Corp. gathering in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Abbott said AI projects on the horizon in the Lone Star State would be bigger than the $500 billion multistate Project Stargate, according to the Dallas Business Journal. So far, Stargate includes three AI data centers in Texas.

Stargate, a new partnership among OpenAI, Oracle, Softbank, and the federal government, is building AI infrastructure around the country. The project’s first data center is in Abilene, and the center’s second phase is underway. Once the second phase is finished, the 875-acre site will host eight buildings totaling about 4 million square feet with a power capacity of 1.2 gigawatts. An additional 600 megawatts of capacity might be added later.

On Sept. 23, Stargate announced the development of another five AI data centers in the U.S., including a new facility in Shackelford County, Texas, near Abilene. That facility is likely a roughly $25 billion, 1.4-gigawatt AI data center that Vantage Data Centers is building on a 1,200-acre site in Shackelford County.

Another will be in Milam County, between Waco and Austin. In conjunction with Stargate, OpenAI plans to occupy the more than $3 billion center, which will be situated on a nearly 600-acre site, the Austin Business Journal reported. OpenAI has teamed up with Softbank-backed SB Energy Global to build the facility.

Abbott said several unannounced AI projects in Texas — namely, data centers — will be larger than Stargate.

“Bottom line is ... when you look at diversification, the hottest thing going on right now is artificial intelligence,” Abbott said.

The Houston area almost certainly stands to attract some of the projects teased by the governor.

In Houston, Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn already is investing $450 million to make AI servers at the 100-acre Fairbanks Logistics Park, which Foxconn recently purchased for a reported $142 million. The park features four industrial buildings totaling one million square feet. It appears Foxconn will manufacture the servers for Apple and Nvidia, both of which have announced they’ll open server factories in Houston.

The Foxconn, Apple, and Nvidia initiatives are high-profile examples of Houston’s ascent in the AI economy. A report released in July by the Brookings Institution identified Houston as one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for AI.

The Greater Houston Partnership says the Houston area is undergoing an "AI-driven data revolution."

“As Houston rapidly evolves into a hub for AI, cloud computing, and data infrastructure, the city is experiencing a surge in data center investments driven by its unique position at the intersection of energy, technology, and innovation,” the partnership says.

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Houston ranks No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s list of metros that are AI “stars.” Photo via Getty Images.

Houston named ‘star’ metro for artificial intelligence in new report

eyes on AI

A new report declares Houston one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for artificial intelligence.

The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.

According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).

A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:

Brookings also named Texas’s three other major metros as AI stars:

  • No. 11 Austin
  • No. 13 Dallas-Fort Worth
  • No. 40 San Antonio

Brookings said star metros like Houston “are bridging the gap” between the two superstar regions and the rest of the country. In 2025, the 28 star metros made up 46 percent of the country’s metro-area employment but 54 percent of AI job postings. Across the 28 metros, the number of AI job postings soared 139 percent between 2018 and 2025, according to Brookings.

Around the country, dozens of metros fell into three other categories on Brookings’ AI list: “emerging centers” (14 metros), “focused movers” (29 metros) and “nascent adopters” (79 metros).

Health care companies dominated Fortune's America’s Most Innovative Companies report for 2025, with Houston’s top-rated company on the list falling into that sector. Photo via Getty Images

8 Houston companies earn spots among Fortune's most innovative for 2025

top honor

Eight Houston companies have been named to Fortune’s third annual list of America’s Most Innovative Companies, joining another 16 from the state of Texas.

The group of 300 companies nationwide was rated based on production innovation, process innovation, and innovation culture, according to Fortune. In partnership with Statista, the magazine considered IP portfolios, employee, expert and customer opinions; and many other factors.

While many of the top-rated companies fell into the tech sector, Fortune reports that health care companies made up the largest portion of the 2025 list. Sixty-three honorees fell into the health care category, including Houston’s top-rated company, Houston Methodist.

Here’s which Houston companies made the list and where they ranked:

  • No. 35 — Houston Methodist
  • No. 54. — ExxonMobil
  • No. 137 — NRG Energy
  • No. 158 — Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
  • No. 169 — BMC Software
  • No. 175 — Texas Children’s Hospital
  • No. 227 — Sysco
  • No. 268 — Chevron

“This award is a true credit to the culture we have created around innovation and the incredible work of Roberta Schwartz, our Chief Innovation Officer, and her team at the Center for Innovation,” Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist, said in a LinkedIn post. “They have really set the tone for how we can use innovation and technology to continue to deliver the highest quality care for our patients.”

Dallas-Fort Worth claimed the largest number of Texas companies on the list, with 11 headquartered in the metroplex. Houston was home to the second-most with eight hailing from the Bayou City. Austin is home to only four of the companies on the list, however, companies from the Capital City ranked higher on average, with Oracle, Tesla and Dell Technologies claiming the top three spots for the state. Beloved Texas grocer H-E-B was the one company to represent San Antonio.

Here's how the other Texas companies fared:

  • No. 6 — Oracle
  • No. 11 — Tesla
  • No. 14 — Dell Technologies
  • No. 37 — AT&T
  • No. 59 — Texas Instruments
  • No. 89 — Charles Schwab
  • No. 91 — McKesson
  • No. 113 — Jacobs Solutions
  • No. 125 — Baylor, Scott & White Health
  • No. 165 — Frontier Communications
  • No. 201— H-E-B
  • No. 210 — CBRE Group
  • No. 219 — TTEC Holdings
  • No. 223 — GameStop
  • No. 251 — American Airlines Group
  • No. 271 — Caterpillar

California-based tech conglomerate Alphabet Inc. topped the list for the third year in a row, and California companies again represented the majority of companies on the list, according to Fortune. Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Salesforce made up the top five, of which three are headquartered in California.

The 2025 group had a median revenue of $22 billion over the last 12 months, according to Fortune. See the full report here.

Apple's Houston factory will open in 2026. Getty Images

Apple announces 250,000-square-foot Houston factory as part of $500B plan

The Big Apple

As part of a more than $500 billion, four-year investment across the U.S., Silicon Valley tech giant Apple plans to build a factory in Houston that will produce servers for its data centers to support the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) business.

In a February 24 announcement, Apple says the company and its partners will build the 250,000-square-foot factory. The plant, set to open in 2026, will employ thousands of people. The announcement doesn’t mention where the plant will be located or how much the project will cost.

“Previously manufactured outside the U.S., the servers that will soon be assembled in Houston play a key role in powering Apple Intelligence, and are the foundation of Private Cloud Compute, which combines powerful AI processing with the most advanced security architecture ever deployed at scale for AI cloud computing,” according to the announcement.

Various media outlets report that Apple is shifting AI server manufacturing and other operations to the U.S. to escape President Trump’s 10% tariff on imports from China. Apple makes many of its iPhones and other tech products in China in partnership with Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn.

The New York Times says Foxconn will be involved in the Houston factory. Last year, Foxconn spent $33 million to buy 10 acres and a building north of Houston in Harris County, adjacent to one of its warehouses, that it said would be used for its AI server business, according to The Times and Focus Taiwan.

Other countries that produce Apple products include India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, according to IndustryWeek.

The Houston plant announcement comes just days after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House.

“We are bullish on the future of American innovation,” Cook says in a news release, “and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future.”

With establishment of the factory in Houston, Apple will enjoy access to a deep pool of manufacturing workers. As of December, nearly 240,000 people held manufacturing jobs in the Houston area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Greater Houston Partnership says the Houston area is home to over 7,000 manufacturers that produce more than $75 billion worth of goods each year.

Given the region’s solid manufacturing base, Apple should be able to attract plenty of job candidates for its Houston facility.

“Apple’s announcement further solidifies Houston’s leadership as a hub for innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, says in a statement. “This is a testament to our region’s business-friendly environment, skilled workforce, strategic global positioning, and proven ability to attract world-class companies. As U.S. companies continue to onshore their manufacturing operations, we are bullish on Houston’s ability to win big.”

"I am pleased with today's announcement and would like to give a shout-out to Apple for plans to bring a state-of-the-art facility to Houston. My administration believes in collaborating with corporations to ensure they know Houston is a place of opportunity. We have the talent and a can-do attitude to get things done," said Mayor John Whitmire via an email statement.

"Last year, Chevron announced its move from California to Houston. Today, Vestas, a leading global wind turbine manufacturer, is opening a new corporate office in Houston. Apple's announcement is a powerful message to everyone that the City of Houston is recognized as a place to live and work and the best major city in America to do business."

As the use of AI continues to grow, companies like Apple need more computing power. Thus, the company is making servers — housed at an escalating number of data centers — that bolster its Apple Intelligence program. Apple describes the program as a “personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves, and get things done.”

Over the next four years, Apple aims to add about 20,000 employees in Houston and other U.S. locations, mostly in AI and machine learning, research and development, silicon engineering, and software development. Aside from Texas, Apple is expanding in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington.

In Texas, Apple already maintains a significant presence in Austin, where it employs about 7,000 people at two corporate campuses. Elsewhere in the Austin area, it has offices in West Lake Hills and San Marcos. It also maintains an office in Dallas.

The analysis cites Amazon, Apple, and Tesla as three of the major employers in Texas pursuing AI initiatives. Photo via Getty Images

Texas ranks as top state for interest in AI-related job postings

eye on AI

If internet search volume is an accurate barometer, Texas is a hotbed for interest in artificial intelligence jobs.

An analysis by Agility Writer, whose technology helps users produce AI-generated content, shows Texas ranks second among the states with the highest monthly search volume for AI-related jobs. The analysis puts Texas’ monthly search volume at 1,300, with California sitting in first place at 1,900 monthly searches.

“As the AI revolution continues to gain momentum, the geographic distribution of interest in AI careers is likely to evolve further, with states investing in AI education and fostering supportive ecosystems poised to reap the benefits of this transformative technology,” says Adam Yong, CEO of Agility Writer.

The analysis cites Amazon, Apple, and Tesla as three of the major employers in Texas pursuing AI initiatives.

Dice.com, a search engine for tech jobs, says AI roles that are in high demand include machine learning engineer, data scientist, AI research scientist, and robotics engineer.

“Looking forward, the demand for AI professionals is expected to intensify as technologies continue to advance and integrate into everyday business processes and consumer products. AI is not just creating jobs but also transforming them, requiring workers to adapt by gaining new skills,” says Dice.com.

A January 2024 report from career platform LinkedIn found that AI consultant and AI engineer are two of the 25 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. this year. Most of these roles are concentrated in San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, and Boston, according to the report.

On the flip side, some analysts predict millions of jobs will be affected by or even lost to AI. For example, research from investment banking giant Goldman Sachs indicates roughly two-thirds of U.S. occupations “are exposed to some degree of automation by AI.”

A study released in 2023 by Chamber of Commerce, a business research company, anticipates as many as 12 percent of Houston-area workers could lose their jobs by 2027 due to AI.

"AI and technology in general may be taking certain jobs away, and yet we also see how it is changing the nature of jobs and even organizations and professions. In the ever-changing arena of AI, employees, job-seekers, and students will continue to adapt and learn new job skills that align with and anticipate workforce needs,” AI expert Fred Oswald, the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences at Rice University and a professor of psychological sciences, said in a 2023 news release.

Temporary gatherings — like conferences and hackathons — are essential to attracting third-party developers. Photo via Getty Images

Rice expert: Why tech companies should sponsor hackathons

houston voices

Companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Apple depend on third-party developers to create applications that improve the user experience on their platforms. However, given the many options available, developers face a daunting task in deciding which platform to focus their efforts on.

“Developers are faced with imperfect information,” says Rice Business assistant professor Tommy Pan Fang. “They don’t have an overview of the entire technology landscape.”

A team of researchers, consisting of Fang, Andy Wu (Harvard University) and David Clough (University of British Columbia), set out to investigate how temporary gatherings like “hackathons” — in-person software development competitions — might influence a developer’s choice of software platform.

Hackathons like Rice University’s annual HackRice draw developers looking to pick up new skills and create applications with teammates. Many of these events are sponsored by software platform companies.

The research team conjectured that hackathon attendees are more likely to adopt a particular platform if any of the following conditions are true:

  • A high number of fellow attendees have already embraced it.
  • A fellow attendee has built an award-winning hackathon project on it.
  • The platform that sponsors the hackathon is already popular.

To test their theories, the researchers followed 1,302 software developers participating in 167 hackathons from January 2014 to May 2017. Twenty-nine different platforms sponsored the hackathons. Fang and his colleagues tracked developers’ platform choices before and after the in-person events.

The researchers found that temporary gatherings — like hackathons, conferences and trade fairs — make a difference.

Developers with greater technical expertise were more likely to use a platform widely embraced by fellow hackathon attendees. And with every 10% increase in the number of hackathon attendees already using a given platform, other attendees were 1.2% more likely to try out that platform themselves the following year.

They also found that platforms benefit from sponsoring temporary gatherings, like hackathons.

Developers who attended a hackathon sponsored by a particular platform were 20.4% more likely to adopt that platform in the following year, compared to developers who either did not attend any hackathon or attended one without a sponsor.

Part of the reason for the findings is that developers at hackathons exert social influence on each other, both during organized hackathon events like competitions and workshops, as well as informal ones including ping pong tournaments or nights playing video games.

“The social interaction and seeing their peers be successful with the tools and what’s fashionable impacts the tools they decide to adopt,” says Fang. “For developers trying to figure out what technology to adopt in a world with imperfect information and uncertainty, having a gathering can be a beacon.”

Interviews with hackathon organizers, sponsors and developers in the U.S. and Canada backed up the researchers’ findings. Interviewees shared how they learned from their interactions with fellow developers during hackathons.

“When I’m walking around, it becomes noticeable what technologies people are using,” said a veteran of 15 hackathons. Another noted that if more people use a certain application programming interface, “it’s lower risk because it will be usable.” They added, “Most people just follow others.”

The study has implications for both developers and software platform companies alike. Results suggest hackathons can be a valuable venue for developers, not only to pick up new skills, but also to help them identify which platforms to use in the first place. For software companies, the lesson is simple: Sponsoring hackathons can be good for business.

Future research could look at how other types of events like conferences, tournaments and world’s fairs might impact how people end up adopting technologies, especially emerging ones, Fang says. For example, a company like OpenAI could use these types of in-person events to garner support and build momentum for its products.

“Companies that may have taken a step back during Covid should reevaluate in-person events to get people excited and regain momentum for their platforms,” Fang says. “The take-home message is, go out there and sponsor these events.”

This article originally ran on Rice Business Wisdom. For more, see Fang, et al. “Platform diffusion at temporary gatherings: Social coordination and ecosystem emergence.” Strategic Management Journal 42.2 (2021): 233-272. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3230.

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Houston energy trailblazer Fervo closes $462 million Series E

Fresh Funds

Houston-based geothermal energy company Fervo Energy has closed an oversubscribed $462 million series E funding round, led by new investor B Capital.

“Fervo is setting the pace for the next era of clean, affordable, and reliable power in the U.S.,” Jeff Johnson, general partner at B Capital, said in a news release.

“With surging demand from AI and electrification, the grid urgently needs scalable, always-on solutions, and we believe enhanced geothermal energy is uniquely positioned to deliver. We’re proud to support a team with the technical leadership, commercial traction, and leading execution capabilities to bring the world’s largest next-generation geothermal project online and make 24/7 carbon-free power a reality.”

The financing reflects “strong market confidence in Fervo’s opportunity to make geothermal energy a cornerstone of the 24/7 carbon-free power future,” according to the company. The round also included participation from Google, a longtime Fervo Partner, and other new and returning investors like Devon Energy, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Centaurus Capital. Centaurus Capital also recently committed $75 million in preferred equity to support the construction of Cape Station Phase I, Fervo noted in the release.

The latest funding will support the continued buildout of Fervo’s Utah-based Cape Station development, which is slated to start delivering 100 MW of clean power to the grid beginning in 2026. Cape Station is expected to be the world's largest next-generation geothermal development, according to Fervo. The development of several other projects will also be included in the new round of funding.

“This funding sharpens our path from breakthrough technology to large-scale deployment at Cape Station and beyond,” Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Fervo, added in the news release. “We’re building the clean, firm power fleet the next decade requires, and we’re doing it now.”

Fervo recently won Scaleup of the Year at the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, and previously raised $205.6 million in capital to help finance the Cape Station earlier this year. The company fully contracted the project's capacity with the addition of a major power purchase agreement from Shell this spring. Fervo’s valuation has been estimated at $1.4 billion and includes investments and support from Bill Gates.

“This new investment makes one thing clear: the time for geothermal is now,” Latimer added in a LinkedIn post. “The world desperately needs new power sources, and with geothermal, that power is clean and reliable. We are ready to meet the moment, and thrilled to have so many great partners on board.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Baylor center receives $10M NIH grant to continue rare disease research

NIH funding

Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Precision Medicine Models received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health last month that will allow it to continue its work studying rare genetic diseases.

The Center for Precision Medicine Models creates customized cell, fly and mouse models that mimic specific genetic variations found in patients, helping scientists to better understand how genetic changes cause disease and explore potential treatments.

The center was originally funded by an NIH grant, and its models have contributed to the discovery of several new rare disease genes and new symptoms caused by known disease genes. It hosts an online portal that allows physicians, families and advocacy groups to nominate genetic variants or rare diseases that need further investigation or new treatments.

Since its founding in 2020, it has received 156 disease/variant nominations, accepted 63 for modeling and produced more than 200 precision models, according to Baylor.

The center plans to use the latest round of funding to bring together more experts in rare disease research, animal modeling and bioinformatics, and to expand its focus and model more complex diseases.

Dr. Jason Heaney, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at BCM, serves as the lead principal investigator of the center.

“The Department of Molecular and Human Genetics is uniquely equipped to bring together the diverse expertise needed to connect clinical human genetics, animal research and advanced bioinformatics tools,” Heaney added in the release. “This integration allows us to drive personalized medicine forward using precision animal models and to turn those discoveries into better care for patients.”

Houston institutions launch Project Metis to position region as global leader in brain health

brain trust

Leaders in Houston's health care and innovation sectors have joined the Center for Houston’s Future to launch an initiative that aims to make the Greater Houston Area "the global leader of brain health."

The multi-year Project Metis, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and deep thought, will be led by the newly formed Rice Brain Institute, The University of Texas Medical Branch's Moody Brain Health Institute and Memorial Hermann’s comprehensive neurology care department. The initiative comes on the heels of Texas voters overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure to launch the $3 billion, state-funded Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT).

According to organizers, initial plans for Project Metis include:

  • Creating working teams focused on brain health across all life stages, science and medical advances, and innovation and commercialization
  • Developing a regional Brain Health Index to track progress and equity
  • Implanting pilot projects in areas such as clinical care, education and workplace wellness
  • Sharing Houston’s progress and learnings at major international forums, including Davos and the UN General Assembly

The initiative will be chaired by:

  • Founding Chair: Dr. Jochen Reiser, President of UTMB and CEO of the UTMB Health System
  • Project Chair: Amy Dittmar, Howard R. Hughes Provost and Executive Vice President of Rice University
  • Project Chair: Dr. David L. Callender, President and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System

The leaders will work with David Gow, Center for Houston’s Future president and CEO. Gow is the founder and chairman of Gow Media, InnovationMap's parent company.

“Now is exactly the right time for Project Metis and the Houston-Galveston Region is exactly the right place,” Gow said in a news release. “Texas voters, by approving the state-funded Dementia Prevention Institute, have shown a strong commitment to brain health, as scientific advances continue daily. The initiative aims to harness the Houston’s regions unique strengths: its concentration of leading medical and academic institutions, a vibrant innovation ecosystem, and a history of entrepreneurial leadership in health and life sciences.”

Lime Rock Resources, BP and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center served as early steering members for Project Metis. HKS, Houston Methodist and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation have also supported the project.

An estimated 460,000 Texans are living with dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, and more than one million caregivers support them.

“Through our work, we see both the immense human toll of brain-related illness and the tremendous potential of early intervention, coordinated care and long-term prevention," Callender added in the release. "That’s why this bold new initiative matters so much."

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