CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) shares fell more than 9% to $48.62 in Wednesday’s premarket trading after Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Governor Greg Abbott in the Texas gubernatorial election. The result draws heightened attention to the company’s 262‑megawatt data‑center commitment in the state.
Hinojosa has called for a statewide moratorium on new data‑center development until Texas lawmakers establish comprehensive protections covering electricity costs, water supplies, and local community involvement in project approvals. Her election does not automatically impose restrictions on CoreWeave’s existing facilities or contracted capacities.
Core Scientific’s $110 Million Denton Fit‑Out Is Underway
CoreWeave has secured 262 MW of critical IT capacity at Core Scientific’s Denton, Texas campus. Core Scientific develops and operates the facilities under licensing agreements with CoreWeave and leases the Denton property from the City of Denton, according to an April 21 regulatory filing. The company also holds a 16.5 MW contract at Core Scientific’s Austin site.
The Denton campus consists of eight buildings being repurposed from cryptocurrency‑mining operations to artificial‑intelligence and high‑performance‑computing workloads. The April filing identified four buildings, representing roughly 132 MW, as operational and generating billable revenue. A November 2 report from the local development publication Groundbreak indicated that seven of the eight buildings are already in service, with Core Scientific commencing an interior fit‑out in the remaining building.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records list the project as the Core Scientific DTO Building A at 8171 Jim Christal Road, Denton. The conversion involves approximately 27,678 square feet of existing space into a data hall, with an estimated cost of $110 million. The state registration cites Core Scientific as the project owner, a construction start date of September 1 2026, and a scheduled completion of May 31 2027. The $110 million estimate applies only to the Building A fit‑out and does not represent CoreWeave’s total expenditure; CoreWeave reimburses certain development costs under its licensing agreements.
The project involves converting an existing structure rather than constructing a new facility. Any future statewide moratorium’s impact on ongoing conversions remains unclear, and no verified decision indicates that the Denton work has been halted or that CoreWeave’s contracted capacity arrangements have changed.
CoreWeave shares rebounded 7.16% on Tuesday, gaining $3.59 to close at $53.74 after an 8.6% decline the previous day. Wednesday’s premarket decline more than erased Tuesday’s recovery, leaving the stock down over 9% for the session. The stock had reached a 52‑week low of $49.46 on November 2.
Weakness was broader in the sector, with Applied Digital down about 3% and Nebius falling 1.3% in early premarket trading. Separately, CoreWeave Tokenized bStocks (CRWVB) was trading at $48.97, down 5% over the prior 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The tokenized instrument trades independently of CoreWeave’s Nasdaq‑listed shares.
Texas Restrictions Predate Election; Georgia Governor‑Elect Backs Data‑Center Pause
Prior to losing the election, Governor Abbott had already imposed restrictions on Texas data‑center development. On August 18, his office announced that CoreWeave, Power House Data Centers, and Emergent Data Centers had committed to complying with state standards addressing electricity‑infrastructure costs, water conservation, and community protections.
Core Scientific disclosed on September 10 that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) had conditionally approved 297 MW of existing Denton load as longstanding base load and validated an additional 74 MW planned for energization in its 2025 transmission‑planning studies. Both portions remain outside ERCOT’s Batch Zero process, which reviews large electricity‑load requests.
Abbott subsequently directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on September 21 to halt permits sought by data centers pending an ERCOT audit. He also instructed state agencies to withhold related regulatory approvals until sufficient information was available to assess development impacts.
Denton’s City Council approved revised data‑center development rules on October 13, requiring council‑approved specific‑use permits for future projects in eligible zoning districts. On October 27, the council held a second public hearing and first reading of a proposed local data‑center moratorium, with a final decision scheduled for December 1. City officials stated that the proposed moratorium would pause new development applications but could not halt or invalidate applications already on file.
These existing restrictions are distinct from the moratorium proposed by Hinojosa, whose scope remains undetermined. No verified decision indicates that construction at Core Scientific’s Denton campus serving CoreWeave has been halted or that CoreWeave’s contracted capacity arrangements have changed.
The same election has also raised questions about IREN’s Texas data‑center expansion.
In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, who campaigned for a statewide pause on new data‑center construction, defeated Republican Rick Jackson. CoreWeave has contracted 175 MW across two facilities in Dalton, Georgia, consisting of a 30 MW conversion of an existing facility and a 145 MW new‑build development. Combined with the Texas locations, CoreWeave’s disclosed licensing agreements cover approximately 453.5 MW of contracted capacity, part of a total of about 590 MW across the companies’ agreements. This figure represents contracted capacity and is not a confirmation of the extent to which any new regulatory changes will affect the projects.