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Toyota, in $3.6 Billion Move, Shifting Tacoma Production to Texas from Mexico

William Attardi on July 7, 2026

Toyota said Monday it will shift most production of its midsize Tacoma pickup truck from Mexico to the United States as part of a $3.6 billion investment in its San Antonio, Texas, plant. The transition from Toyota’s Tijuana, Mexico, facility will take roughly four years, the Japanese auto giant said. The announcement comes just days after Washington declined to renew a North American trade pact with Mexico, as well as Canada, fueling uncertainty for businesses. Toyota said in November it planned to invest as much as $10 billion in the United States over the next five years. The world’s largest automaker by vehicle sales, Toyota plans to build a second assembly line at its San Antonio factory, creating more than 2,000 jobs and increasing annual production capacity at the plant by 150,000 units, the company said in a statement. Toyota, in $3.6 billion move, shifting Tacoma production to Texas from Mexico

Dallas, Texas Ranked No. 1 Primary Data Market in the World

William Attardi on May 28, 2026

Driven by accelerating AI adoption, cloud computing demand and digital infrastructure investment, global capacity under construction approached 31.7 gigawatts (GW) in 2025, more than doubling from 12.5GW reported in the prior edition of the report. At the same time, developers, occupiers and investors are facing intensifying constraints tied to power availability, land use, permitting timelines and growing regulatory scrutiny. The report analyzes 107 global markets across 24 variables tied to commercial real estate fundamentals, power infrastructure, development activity, regulation and operational risk and provides a more forward looking approach to evaluate market dynamics than previous editions. Cushman & Wakefield – Dallas, Texas Ranked No. 1 Primary Data Market in the World as AI Demand, Power Constraints and Regulation Reshape CRE Strategy

Microsoft to Build Dedicated AI Factory Campus in Texas

William Attardi on March 30, 2026

Crusoe, the AI factory company, announced the development of a new, dedicated AI factory campus in Abilene, Texas. Supporting large scale AI workloads for Microsoft, the 900 MW site includes two new buildings and an onsite power plant to support grid resilience. The new campus is located adjacent to Crusoe’s existing Abilene AI factory infrastructure, bringing the total projected capacity across the full Abilene site to 2.1 gigawatts (GW). Land clearing and site preparation for the new campus are already underway, with the first building expected to be energized in mid-2027, continuing Crusoe’s record-setting pace that energized the first two buildings of the Abilene campus in under one year. The first eight buildings of Crusoe’s existing data center campus in Abilene are expected to deliver up to 32% of the City of Abilene’s and up to 25% of Taylor County’s current FY 2025 Budgeted Property Tax Revenue. Microsoft to Build Dedicated AI Factory Campus in Texas – electrifiED

Dallas Market Center Announces Major Expansion

William Attardi on February 12, 2026

Dallas Market Center announced a dramatic expansion of the number of Design showrooms located inside its Interior Home + Design Center (IHDC). More than 100 brands, represented inside multiple showrooms, will move into custom spaces on the first and second floors of the building in the first half of 2026. This is the largest project for the development of new showrooms inside Dallas Market Center in more than a decade. Upcoming trade events at Dallas Market Center include Design Days, April 14-15; Total Home & Gift Market, June 24-30; Lightovation, June 24-27; and Design + Build Day at Lightovation, June 23. Dallas Market Center Announces Major Expansion – tEDmag

Google to Invest $40B in AI Data Centers, Workforce Training Across Texas by Claire Hao, James Osborne

William Attardi on November 15, 2025

Google plans to invest $40 billion into artificial intelligence data centers and related workforce training across Texas through 2027. That includes plans to build three new data centers – two in Haskell County and one in Armstrong County. It’s the latest massive investment from tech giants racing to surpass each other in the development of artificial intelligence. Amid this rush, Texas has emerged as one of the most attractive states for new data centers, given its ample land, relatively cheap electricity for large industrial users and abundant energy resources.  Google to invest $40B in AI data centers, workforce training across Texas

Tesla Launches Robotaxi Program in Austin, Texas

William Attardi on June 23, 2025

Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, that began Sunday with customers paying a $4.20 flat fee! Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success. The stakes couldn’t be higher, nor the challenges. Rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride. Musk says the robotaxis will be running on an improved version of Full Self-Driving and the cabs will be safe. He also says the service will be able to expand rapidly around the country. His secret weapon: Millions of Tesla owners now on the roads. He says an over-the-air software update will soon allow them to turn their cars into driverless cabs and start a side business while stuck at the office for eight hours or on vacation for a week. “Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,” Musk said earlier this year, calling it an Airbnb model for cars. Musk finally rolls out his driverless Tesla taxis after years of promises | AP News

The Drone-Delivery Service Beating Amazon to Your Front Door

William Attardi on March 31, 2025

Soon your burrito bowl could arrive via the sky. Zipline’s drones make deliveries by lowering small coolers on 300-foot cables. A drone delivery startup Zipline is in the flying delivery race—competitors include Amazon and Google parent Alphabet—has emerged as a front-runner. For now, initial commercial testing in the U.S. is happening in Pea Ridge and Mesquite, Texas, just outside Dallas. Walmartis the only retail operation Zipline delivers for in the U.S. at present. For future partners, Zipline has designed a small pickup kiosk that can be installed just outside any building.  Alphabet’s Wing drone service is already in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, delivering from 18 Walmarts to 40 nearby towns and cities within the drones’ six-mile range. Amazon is operating its drone delivery service in College Station, Texas, and an area near Phoenix, but in terms of scale, the online retail giant remains a distant third. The Drone-Delivery Service Beating Amazon to Your Front Door – WSJ

Remembering the Solemn Purpose of Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the last Monday in May to honor and mourn U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. The holiday traces its roots to the years immediately following the American Civil War (1861–1865), which caused massive casualties—roughly 620,000 soldiers dead, about 2% of the U.S. population at the time. Communities across the North and South began spontaneously decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers, wreaths, and flags, a practice that gave rise to the original name: Decoration Day. On May 5, 1868, Major General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—a powerful Union veterans’ organization—issued General Order No. 11. This proclaimed May 30, 1868, as a nationwide “Decoration Day” to honor those who died in the Civil War. After World War I, the holiday expanded to honor all American service members who died in any war, not just the Civil War.  In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to create more three-day weekends for federal employees. This moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May, effective in 1971, when it was also officially named “Memorial Day.” As one 1868 quote put it: “That Nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.”