Meta Platforms META, the social-media and artificial-intelligence giant, hit a Texas-sized political wall Thursday, with shares trading at $611.62. Its planned El Paso data-center campus will cost more than $10 billion, but lawmakers from both parties are turning up the pressure on Big Tech’s expansion. Reuters reported that Gov. Greg Abbott wants tougher restrictions, fewer incentives and tighter limits on rural development. The state has approved no additional grid hookups since an August 3 audit. Meta has the money. Texas controls the power switch.

This is no ordinary server farm. Meta’s project plan calls for one gigawatt of computing capacity, with the first phase expected online in 2028. Meta will initially occupy the entire facility. Construction could support more than 4,000 jobs at its peak, followed by approximately 300 permanent positions. That is a powerful economic pitch. But jobs alone may not overpower concerns about electricity, water and taxpayer incentives.

The disclosed investment equals at least 7.3% of Meta’s $137.5 billion annual capital-expenditure midpoint, although construction will span multiple periods. The company spent $31.08 billion on capital expenditures last quarter while generating only $784 million in free cash flow. The valuation gap is hard to ignore: at $611.62, Meta trades 27.78% below its $846.92 GF Value, pointing to substantial potential upside if its AI infrastructure bet delivers. The upside looks tempting. The spending pressureand now the political resistancelooks just as real.