Data Centers Are Driving a New U.S. Natural Gas Buildout
Now It May Help Break It Apart Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… 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 thesingle-biggest source of power-related emissions in the entire United Statesif 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 theUnited States’ largest fossil-fuel plantto 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.
AJune reportfrom 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 toGlobal Energy Monitor.
Of that, 189 GW was tied directly to data centers.
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 thatboth 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.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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