Nvidia-Backed Poolside Unveils $16B Gas-Powered AI Data Campus in Texas (2025)

• Why Is Texas the New Battleground for AI Data Centers?
• How Will Horizon’s Gas-to-Compute Model Work?
• What Does This Mean for the AI Infrastructure War?
• Are Gas-Powered Data Centers a Climate Disaster?
• What’s Next for Poolside and Nvidia?
• FAQs

Poolside, with heavyweight backing from Nvidia, is making waves in the AI infrastructure race with its $16 billion Horizon project—a self-powered data campus in Texas’ Permian Basin. The facility will leverage local natural gas to dodge grid instability, targeting 2GW of compute (Hoover Dam-level output). CoreWeave jumps in as anchor tenant, while critics question the environmental trade-offs of gas-powered AI. Meanwhile, Poolside’s valuation soars to $14B amid an industry-wide compute Gold rush.

Why Is Texas the New Battleground for AI Data Centers?

Texas has become the Wild West of AI infrastructure, with everyone from OpenAI to xAI scrambling for land and power. The state’s independent grid and lax regulations make it attractive, but recent blackouts have exposed vulnerabilities. Poolside’s co-founder Eiso Kant told me, “It’s not about chasing gigawatts—it’s about delivering functional infrastructure,” highlighting why they’re bypassing the grid entirely. Their solution? Tapping into Occidental Petroleum’s abandoned gas plant and existing pipelines NEAR Longfellow Ranch. Smart move, given that Texas’ grid operator can now cut power to data centers during emergencies (a lesson learned from the 2023 winter crisis).

How Will Horizon’s Gas-to-Compute Model Work?

The 500-acre campus will essentially create a closed-loop energy ecosystem:

1. On-site natural gas extraction from Permian Basin wells
2. Conversion to electricity via reactivated Occidental plant
3. Direct power supply to server racks, avoiding transmission losses

What Does This Mean for the AI Infrastructure War?

Let’s crunch some numbers from TradingView’s energy sector data:

Are Gas-Powered Data Centers a Climate Disaster?

Environmentalists are (predictably) furious. The Permian Basin already leaks 60% more methane than EPA estimates, per Bloomberg’s 2024 satellite analysis. Poolside counters that their on-site generation avoids grid inefficiencies, and hey—at least they’re not burning coal. But let’s be real: when your PR pitch is “we’re slightly less dirty,” you’ve already lost the optics battle. The project’s saving grace? Texas’ loose emissions reporting requirements.

What’s Next for Poolside and Nvidia?

Starting December 2025, Poolside gets early access to CoreWeave’s Nvidia rigs—a stopgap until Horizon comes online. Nvidia’s involvement guarantees chip supply (crucial during the H100 shortage), while Poolside pursues its moonshot: human-level AI. As Kant put it, “Infrastructure is the physical bottleneck,” which sounds profound until you realize he’s basically saying “you can’t run ChatGPT on a potato.”