CoreWeave Asks Texas Governor-Elect to Let Permitted Data Centers Finish

CoreWeave chief executive Michael Intrator wrote to Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa on Nov. 7 offering to work with her transition team on finishing permitted data center projects, Bloomberg reported.

"You have made clear that data center growth must work for Texas," Intrator said in a statement on the letter. "We strongly support those principles." He added that CoreWeave welcomes working with her team "on the responsible completion of permitted projects and on clear, durable standards for future development." Neither Bloomberg nor Investing.com reported a reply from Hinojosa, and the letter itself has not been published.

The overture follows Hinojosa's Nov. 4 pledge of a statewide data center moratorium after she beat Gov. Greg Abbott. For CoreWeave, which builds GPU capacity for AI customers, the question is whether a freeze would reach projects that already hold approvals. Its letter asks for those to be completed, which is a narrower request than opposing the pledge.

Why CoreWeave's Texas Letter Follows a Sell-Off

Investing.com described the letter as an olive branch that follows a sharp sell-off. It reported that CoreWeave's shares fell to a record low of $49.92, capping a 44% decline over the month, and that yields on its corporate bonds rose above 17% in early November. It attributed the moves to credit-market worries and the political shift in Texas, and put the company's debt near $50 billion, which is Investing.com's estimate rather than a company figure.

That debt matters because CoreWeave funds Nvidia GPU clusters largely with borrowing, so a permit delay pushes back the date a site starts earning revenue while interest keeps running. Investors in "neocloud" builders, Investing.com wrote, are wary that state-level roadblocks could derail capital-intensive expansion plans.

Where the Texas Moratorium Pledge Stands

Nothing in Texas law has changed yet. Hinojosa takes office in January, and Bloomberg noted that she has also said she will "balance" the state's pro-business reputation with stiffer rules. "It has to be a partnership that benefits Texans," she told CNN on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

The politics extend beyond Texas. Bloomberg said Democrats now hold 29 governorships after the midterms, many with calls for statewide moratoriums on data center construction in response to voter frustration. As Voltgrid reported, Abbott's own Aug. 3 letter to the state's utility regulator and ERCOT already holds new data center connections to the Texas grid until an audit of their power and water use is finished.

What Is Still Unconfirmed About the Letter

Reports Voltgrid read do not give the letter's full text, so the list of CoreWeave sites it covers and any megawatt figures for them are unconfirmed. No report says how Hinojosa would treat projects that already hold permits, or when a moratorium would start. Watch for whether her team answers the permitted-projects request before she is sworn in, and for any CoreWeave disclosure of how much Texas capacity is under construction.