The news
On September 30, 2026, the US Department of Commerce and the government of South Korea announced a strategic investment in Project Star Texas, a $22.3 billion natural gas power campus in Encinal, Texas, built to supply an adjacent 5-gigawatt (GW) data center campus.
The campus is planned to provide 6.47 GW of natural gas generation, according to the announcement. It is being jointly developed by Related Companies and NextEra Energy Resources, a unit of NextEra Energy (NEE), in partnership with Lewis Energy Group. Related Digital, the data center arm of Related Companies, is developing the 5 GW digital infrastructure campus next door.
The developers said initial generating resources are expected online as early as 2029, subject to permitting and approvals. The Korea Times reported that full-capacity operations are expected in 2032 and that the plant will be a combined-cycle facility, which reuses exhaust heat to generate extra electricity. Power not used by the data center is to be delivered back to the grid, according to the release.
The project is part of the implementation of the trade deal between South Korea and the United States announced in July 2025 and a strategic investment memorandum of understanding signed in November 2025, the announcement said. The Korea Times reported that Korea provides the investment while the US companies lead development, and that a tolling-style power purchase agreement is expected to be finalized in 2027.
The developers expect about 8,400 jobs at peak construction and roughly 170 permanent jobs at the power campus, with hundreds more at the data center. The release said the project supports Texas Governor Greg Abbott's requirements for data centers to bring their own generation.
Project Star was one of three energy investments announced on the same day, according to The Korea Times. The others were Project Power, a nuclear program of up to $120 billion, and Project North, an Alaska liquefied natural gas project of about $50 billion that remains under review.
The numbers
- Total investment
- $22.3 billion
- Gas generation capacity
- 6.47 GW
- Adjacent data center campus
- 5 GW
- Peak construction jobs (developer estimate)
- About 8,400
- First power expected
- 2029
Why CEOs should care
For technology buyers planning large AI deployments, the message is that capacity now follows power. A 5 GW campus tied to its own gas plant means the bottleneck is less about land or chips and more about who controls generation. Buyers negotiating long-term cloud or colocation contracts should ask providers where their 2029 to 2032 power is coming from, and whether it is contracted or still speculative.
For CFOs, government-backed financing is becoming part of the infrastructure stack. Korea's capital, routed through a trade agreement, sits behind a US power project. That can lower funding costs for developers, but it also adds policy risk: terms can shift with trade relations. Companies signing offtake or capacity deals linked to such projects should review what happens if the political framework changes.
For boards and sustainability leads, a 6.47 GW gas campus has emissions consequences. Firms with climate targets that rely on capacity from gas-fired AI sites should ask how those emissions will be counted and disclosed.
The bigger picture
Texas has become a focal point for data center development, and the state's push for sites to bring their own generation is pushing developers toward dedicated plants. Project Star pairs a utility-scale energy company, NextEra, with a real estate and data center developer, Related, which shows how power and compute are being planned as one project.
The announcement also shows how trade policy is now reaching into AI infrastructure. Korea's commitments under its 2025 trade deal are being steered toward energy projects that serve US computing demand.
What’s next
The next milestone, according to The Korea Times, is the power purchase agreement expected in 2027, ahead of first power in 2029. Watch for named data center tenants and further projects announced under the Korea-US investment framework.
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