Anthropic Barber Lake data center, Colorado City, Texas

Cipher Digital is building a 300-megawatt data center campus for Anthropic's Claude AI models at 951 County Road 204 in Mitchell County, just outside Colorado City, Texas. Fluidstack leases the site and Google backs the deal; the campus is under construction, with its first phase due to start delivering power in September 2026 and a second phase in January 2027. On September 14, 2026, the three companies put $10 million toward fixing Colorado City's failing water system.

Water has been the local question. In July 2026, thunderstorms knocked out power and backup generators at a Colorado City well-pump station, and taps ran dry on top of years of aging pipes and pumps. Cipher says the campus uses only on-site, non-potable water and will not draw from the municipal drinking supply, and Mayor Ruben Hurt said the data center is not a city water customer. The $10 million funds a new well field, a new water tower and replacement of the town's aging water main.

"The main thing that this money is going to do is we're going to create another water storage in town," Hurt said, adding that the funding lets the city make repairs without shifting the cost to residents. Cattleman Lee Roy Miller, the Republican nominee for Precinct 2 county commissioner, said he still runs fewer cattle than he did 20 years ago over water concerns, but called the project a necessary economic development for the area.

Anthropic's head of economic development, Ryan Wilson, said at the ceremony that governments should avoid "making deals that deny the community resources, such as giving away tax abatements indefinitely," and suggested Texas limit its sales tax break for data center equipment to 10 years. Barber Lake sits north of Interstate 20, outside city limits, and does not connect to Colorado City's water system; the next milestone is the second phase's rent start in January 2027.