Fossil AI and the Making of Powered Land in Texas

Justin Kollar and Laura Schmahmann

No bp52f_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is driving a historic convergence of digital and energy capital. Examining Stargate Abilene and gas-linked data centers across Texas, we show how ostensibly liberalized electricity markets and state coordination make computational development investable. This produces “powered land,” as energy access and development rights are assembled and repeatedly reworked around speculative demand for compute. We theorize “Fossil AI” as a mode of accumulation in which state institutions intertwine with the inherited hydrocarbon economy to revalorize fossil infrastructure. Appeals to grid “reliability” translate private requirements into matters of public planning and system security amid geopolitical competition over AI.

Date: 2026-10-31
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:bp52f_v1

DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/bp52f_v1

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