Meta has agreed to comply with new standards for data center development in Texas, Gov. The commitment comes one week after Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit data center projects seeking to connect to the state’s power grid. Under the standards, data center operators are expected to pay for their own electric infrastructure rather than passing those costs along to other customers. Abbott said the requirements are intended to prevent the rapid expansion of data centers from increasing costs for Texas residents or straining the state’s electric and water infrastructure. Texas has experienced rapid growth in data center development, driven in large part by increasing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.