Fluidstack Cameron County (Harlingen) data center, Harlingen, Texas

Fluidstack has started construction on a data center campus in Cameron County, Texas, on more than 1,100 acres near Rio Hondo, east of Valley International Airport and west of the Port of Harlingen. The $4 billion first phase is expected to create more than 2,500 construction jobs and several hundred permanent jobs, Fluidstack said when it broke ground in September 2026.

The project follows directives from Gov. Greg Abbott, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and a Cameron County resolution on data centers, Fluidstack said, and the company is developing community benefit agreements with local leaders.

The groundbreaking came a week after Harlingen city commissioners tabled a drainage agreement that would have let Fluidstack route stormwater into a city-owned canal. Fluidstack spokesperson Kate Franko said the company received a worksite permit from Cameron County instead and will pursue alternative plans for wastewater discharge, using closed-loop cooling supplied by the East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corporation.

Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda said on social media the project was moving forward "with or without the city of Harlingen." "It was not located in Harlingen. It was not asking Harlingen for permission to build. We did not have the authority to stop it," Sepulveda said, adding that Cameron County approved Fluidstack's drainage permit and that $20 million once proposed for Harlingen infrastructure will instead go to the county.

Fluidstack says it will cover all energy, infrastructure and water costs, with nothing passed on to residents, and that the project comes with no local property tax breaks while adding millions of dollars a year to the local tax base. Cameron County Commissioner David Garza, whose precinct includes the site, welcomed the project: "They are investing in and paying for their own energy and infrastructure, ensuring those costs do not fall on our residents."

Not everyone is satisfied. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez said data centers are "energy-intensive and large water consumption facilities that will place significant new demands on already strained communities," and that he opposes new data centers "until we have an abundance of water, a reliable energy grid, and a well-thought-out plan for the future."

Cameron County's worksite permit lets construction continue while Fluidstack finalizes its wastewater plan; the company says further project details will be released as agreements with local leaders are completed.