Key Highlights

  • A Pew analysis of Data Center map listings accessed February 19, 2026 counts 287 planned data centers in Virginia, 170 in Texas and 141 in Georgia.
  • Operating counts tell a different story, with Virginia at 398, Texas at 296 and Georgia at 94, so Georgia's pipeline is large next to its existing base.
  • A 27% Texas capacity share credited on election night to a bank estimate could not be verified and is excluded from this analysis.
  • iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) owns chipmakers whose sales climb with data center buildouts, which makes state rules a second-order risk.

Mapping the Buildout

Pew counts facilities rather than megawatts, and its planned bucket covers sites under construction, planned or land banked. On that measure Virginia leads with 287 planned and 685 in total, Texas follows with 170 planned and 466 in total, and Georgia has 141 planned and 235 in total. Each total is the sum of planned and operating sites, which the published table supports state by state. Some planned sites may never be built and land banked sites can sit idle for years, so the planned number caps near-term activity rather than forecasting it. The counts also treat a small edge site and a huge campus alike, so they reveal little about power demand. A circulating summary offered a power-capacity ranking that included Ohio and Pennsylvania, but it rested on a single unconfirmed report.

How Politics Spilled Into Chip Stocks

After the November 3, 2026 election, Democrats were projected to hold the House, and Texas chose Democrats for governor and, by projection, for senator. Published coverage on November 4 had two large chip stocks more than 1% lower premarket on concern that new officials might restrict data center construction. iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) is concentrated in a few chip designers and equipment makers, so any slowdown in server orders hits it before it reaches smaller firms. An AI server rack can use many times the power of a standard rack, which is why grid access often decides whether a site proceeds and why politicians have zeroed in on electricity prices. A permitting delay does not erase demand, but it can move the timing of orders by quarters.

Risks and the Next Signals

State rules are just one constraint. Power supply, transformer lead times, funding costs and federal chip export policy can all weigh more than a local permit. iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) also mirrors the cycle in memory and handset chips, so its returns are not tied to any one state. According to published coverage, AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) posted a third-quarter Earnings beat that sent its shares about 6% higher premarket, a sign that Demand has held up. Watch state bills in Texas, Georgia and Virginia, Utility load forecasts and the report from Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) after the close on November 4. In relative terms, Georgia has the widest gap between planned and operating sites of the three, so its approval process is a handy early signal. Pew's figures are a February snapshot and will have moved since.

Where Things Stand

Because the map shows where future chip orders could be delayed. On Pew's February snapshot, Virginia, Texas and Georgia lead on planned data centers, with Texas second to Virginia. For iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX), the state picture is mostly a timing risk, since permitting delays could defer orders without cancelling them. The case for a large policy hit is weak, as no restriction is in force and the only verified market reaction was a drop of more than 1% in two premarket stocks. Chip earnings and power Supply are the clearer drivers, along with any change in the Cost of Capital that pays for new buildings.