This Month's Latest Tech News in Lubbock, TX - Saturday May 31st 2025 Edition

West Texas is witnessing a transformative wave as Lubbock and surrounding areas surge ahead in the AI revolution. In June 2025, the Helios facility in Dickens County, formerly a major Bitcoin mining site, is set to become a leading AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data center, thanks to a landmark 15-year partnership between Galaxy Digital Holdings and CoreWeave, an Nvidia-backed AI cloud provider.

This ambitious shift, already underway with extensive infrastructure upgrades and selective demolition, will see CoreWeave leasing up to 393MW of critical IT load to power AI applications, positioning the Panhandle as a U.S. innovation epicenter.

The transition is poised to generate around $4.5 billion in revenue and bring substantial benefits to the local community, including high-quality tech jobs and increased tax revenue.

As Michael Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy, highlighted,

"This Phase II commitment with CoreWeave marks another major step in Galaxy's evolution as a trusted partner for the next generation of data center infrastructure."

For a comprehensive look at the project's economic, energy, and technical footprint, view coverage at KCBD's update on the Helios facility's AI transition, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's report on the CoreWeave lease, and Data Center Dynamics' industry analysis.

The table below summarizes key capacity and investment figures:

Facility Feature	Details
Initial Bitcoin Mining Capacity	25 BTC/day ($900,000/day)
Purchased By Galaxy For	$65 million (late 2022)
AI/HPC Lease Agreement	15 years, up to 393MW to CoreWeave
Expected Revenue	Approx. $4.5 billion over lease term
Approved Power Capacity (Helios)	800MW (+600MW option)

In a pivotal move for West Texas tech, Dickens County's former Helios crypto-mining complex is being transformed into an artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) powerhouse under a 15-year lease with CoreWeave, an AI cloud provider backed by Nvidia.

The facility, acquired by Galaxy Digital Holdings from Argo Blockchain for $65 million in late 2022, will ramp up to deliver a contracted total of 393 megawatts (MW) of critical IT load by 2027, with options for further expansion up to 600 MW, as Data Center Dynamics reports on Galaxy Digital's AI pivot.

Upgrades - encompassing enhanced fiber connectivity and selective demolition of legacy infrastructure - are underway to support compute-intensive AI workloads, signaling Galaxy's broader pivot beyond crypto.

This transition is projected to generate $4.5 billion in revenue for Galaxy, inject significant tax revenue into local schools and services, and establish Dickens County as a regional tech hub.

As Lubbock Avalanche-Journal details this tech expansion in West Texas, the ambitious expansion stands to catalyze job creation and economic vitality in the Panhandle-Plains.

Summing up the transformation, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz remarked,

“This Phase II commitment with CoreWeave marks another major step in Galaxy's evolution as a trusted partner for the next generation of data center infrastructure.”

For a complete breakdown of power and capacity commitments, see the table below:

Phase	Critical IT Load (MW)	Gross Power (MW)	Timeline
I	133	200	By H1 2026
II	260	400	By 2027
Total (contracted)	393	600	By 2027

Discover more about the scale of this West Texas tech transformation in Galaxy's official announcement on the Helios Data Center Campus expansion.

Texas Tech University is at the forefront of preparing Lubbock's youth for an AI-powered future, launching programs that emphasize both technical fluency and entrepreneurial skill-building.

Leading this initiative is Amy Love, an AI strategist, entrepreneur, and Texas Tech alumna, who is hosting events such as “Becoming Irreplaceable in the Age of AI” and “From Screen Time to Self-Driven Success.” These sessions aim to foster adaptability, critical thinking, and intentional technology use among students, parents, and educators, transforming screen time into learning opportunities and encouraging a mindset fit for tomorrow's workforce through expert-led discussions and workshops.

Love's background - ranging from Harvard Business training to Silicon Valley executive roles - brings real-world credibility to Texas Tech's efforts in cultivating future change-makers by empowering young people with crucial entrepreneurial traits.

As AI's influence on K–12 and higher education rapidly grows, experts nationwide echo the need for personalization and mentorship over simple automation:

“It is vitally important that the next generation of students is prepared to leverage AI in all aspects of their professional lives.” – Secretary Linda McMahon

Policymakers and educators now stress that AI is a tool for advancement - complementing, not replacing, the mentorship and emotional support that define impactful teaching.

Explore how Texas Tech's approach aligns with evolving national models - such as individualized, AI-enhanced curricula adopted in schools like Alpha - by reading this analysis on the evolving role of teachers in AI classrooms.

Visa is ushering in the era of agentic AI shopping with the launch of its Intelligent Commerce platform, enabling AI-powered agents to browse, recommend, and securely make purchases on behalf of users.

This initiative, developed in partnership with tech leaders like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, offers consumers the ability to set spending limits and personalized preferences, while benefiting from streamlined checkouts and enhanced security through tokenization and real-time authentication controls.

Visa's network, supporting 4.8 billion payment credentials across 150 million merchants, provides robust global reach and “adult-grade security,” positioning the platform to rival established tech commerce giants and empower startups alike.

As AI agent adoption grows - KPMG reports 65% of organizations already piloting such technologies - issues of trust, data privacy, and user control remain top concerns.

Industry experts emphasize that

“there is no agent-powered future without a strong foundation of trust,”

while partners like Perplexity highlight Visa's unique ability to bridge the gap between product discovery and seamless transaction.

Key features and metrics of Visa Intelligent Commerce are summarized below for clarity:

Metric	Data
Payment Credentials	4.8 billion
Merchant Locations	150 million+
Fraud Prevented	$40 billion+
AI Agent Pilots (Q1 2025)	65% of orgs piloting
Projected AI Agent Market Growth	45% CAGR (2024-2030)

For more, read how Visa enables secure and personalized AI agent shopping, explore broader industry trends and challenges in Visa and Mastercard's agentic commerce strategy, and dive into the partnerships driving these new AI payment rails in Visa's collaboration with leading AI developers.

The Texas Panhandle is rapidly establishing itself as an AI powerhouse thanks to Galaxy Digital's landmark $4.5 billion, 15-year partnership with Nvidia-backed CoreWeave, which is set to transform the 160-acre Helios data center in Dickens County from a former Bitcoin mining facility into one of North America's most advanced centers for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

This massive project will deliver up to 393 MW of critical IT load for CoreWeave and positions Helios for a potential scale of 2.5 GW, reflecting the region's strategic advantage in energy availability and infrastructure speed.

The investment is expected to generate substantial economic benefits: community leaders cite new high-quality jobs, major tax revenue for local schools and county budgets, and a technological ripple effect that will accelerate the Panhandle's role as an “energy hub of the United States.” Galaxy's diversification away from cryptocurrency aligns with the surging demand for AI data hosting - a pivot underscored by CoreWeave's $4 billion deal with OpenAI and plans to spend over $20 billion on AI infrastructure this year.

As Chris Ferraro, President and CIO of Galaxy, stated,

“Galaxy is positioned to not only be one of the largest early developers of large-scale next-gen data center infrastructure at Helios, but also to then leverage that platform to grow into one of the long-term winners in the space.”

For a breakdown of the Helios campus capacity agreements and expansion plans, see the table below:

Phase	Capacity (MW)	Estimated Timeline
Phase I	133	H1 2026
Phase II	260	Through 2027
Approved Expansion Rights	~400 (additional options)	Pending

Read more about the transformation at the official Galaxy-CoreWeave commitment announcement, explore the economic and community impact in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's coverage of West Texas Helios Facility, and dive deeper into the project's strategic vision and infrastructure milestones via Galaxy's newsroom feature on building AI infrastructure.

AI meal planning tools are transforming the way Lubbock residents - and dietitians at Texas Tech - approach nutrition, personalizing meal suggestions for a wide range of lifestyles and dietary requirements.

Texas Tech's dietitians point to the growing ecosystem of apps like Whisk, Mealime, DishGen, and the newly launched AI Meal Planner, which debuted on May 27, 2025, as game changers for fitness and health-conscious users by leveraging AI algorithms to tailor recipes to preferences and goals.

These digital assistants not only save time and reduce food waste but also help address allergies, optimize grocery shopping, and enhance creativity in the kitchen, with some platforms - such as Wholesum's AI-enhanced food calculator - offering specialized support for group settings like camps and university programs.

The field reflects an impressive spread of features and business models, ranging from fully free to premium subscription-based offerings, as summarized in the table below.

App	Core Features	Pricing
AI Meal Planner	Personalized coaching, adapts to dietary needs	Launched 2025, pricing TBA
Whisk	Ingredient-based recipes, grocery list sync, sharing	Free
DishGen	30,000+ recipes, inventive leftovers use	Free & Premium options ($7.99+)
Wholesum Food Calculator	Group meal & cost planning, AI recipe generation	Subscription, group-focused

As a recent Confluent case study describes,

“Event-driven multi-agent systems simplify complex real-world problems like meal planning,”

enabling smarter, tailored plans for families and groups.

Explore more about the rise of AI-driven meal planning platforms in this global market report on AI-driven meal planning apps, discover reviews of this year's top apps in AutoGPT's best AI recipe generators guide for 2025, and dig into the technical side of multi-agent meal planners with Confluent's in-depth AI meal planner architecture walk-through.

As AI continues to streamline shopping, meal diversity, and dietary compliance, Lubbock's tech-savvy eaters are poised to benefit from ever more accessible and innovative smart eating solutions.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has named Eli Heath as the 20th Student Regent for the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, making Heath the seventh Texas Tech University (TTU) student to hold this role since the program's inception.

A National Merit Scholar from Flower Mound, Texas, Heath is recognized for his academic excellence and leadership as an Honors College student pursuing chemical engineering, along with minors in bioengineering, biology, and chemistry.

Heath's extensive campus involvement includes serving as a Student Government Association senator, outreach coordinator for the Raider Medical Screening Society, and research intern at TTU Health Sciences Center - with his NIH-funded projects presented at national conferences.

As President Lawrence Schovanec praised,

"He is a respected student leader and a thoughtful representative of the university. His involvement in student government and other campus organizations reflects a strong commitment to service and academic excellence. We're proud of the way he represents Texas Tech and look forward to the contributions he will make to our university and the Texas Tech University System."

Heath's role as Student Regent comes amid growing recognition of undergraduate leadership as a high-impact practice that develops soft skills, career readiness, and meaningful campus engagement (read more about the academic value of student leadership).

As student regent, Heath represents the interests of over 64,000 students across five universities in the system, reflecting a broader trend identified in the 2025 Students and Technology Report: student leaders are increasingly pivotal in advocating for technology advancement, accessibility, and campus well-being.

For more on Heath's achievements and responsibilities, see the full announcement from Texas Tech University System.

Lubbock and West Texas are facing the largest measles outbreak in three decades, with the Texas Department of State Health Services reporting 738 confirmed cases by May 30, 2025, and fewer than 10 currently infectious cases in Lubbock and surrounding counties.

The outbreak has highlighted persistent gaps in public health infrastructure, with rural hospitals scrambling to respond amid difficulties posed by long travel distances and limited resources - a situation detailed in Texas Tribune's coverage of the rural outbreak response.

Local efforts are being bolstered at the Texas Tech Bioterrorism Response Lab, which, having rapidly scaled up its testing capabilities, now returns results same-day across 67 counties to speed containment and care.

Cynthia Reinoso Webb, Biological Threat Coordinator, emphasized:

"Having the capability to test here, close to where the outbreak is, is actually very important to the region... Having the proximity to be able to receive samples."

According to official DSHS outbreak reports, Lubbock is one of several counties with ongoing transmission, and 94 hospitalizations and two pediatric fatalities have been recorded since January - all among unvaccinated children.

Nationwide, the outbreak is part of a wider surge, with 800 confirmed U.S. cases as of April 18, and Texas accounting for the majority, as outlined in Contagion Live's analysis of recent data.

Health officials continue urging MMR vaccination as the most effective safeguard.

Key Statistic	Number
Total West Texas cases	738
Lubbock among outbreak counties	Yes
Total hospitalizations	94
Pediatric fatalities (unvaccinated)	2
Confirmed Texas cases (Apr 18, 2025)	624

On March 12, 2025, Texas Tech University faced a significant emergency when an explosion in a manhole near the Engineering Key triggered a series of underground fires, widespread power outages, and campus-wide evacuations.

Firefighters arrived to find green flames and heavy smoke billowing from multiple manholes, with hazardous gases such as methane and hydrogen cyanide detected at dangerous levels.

In response, all power and gas were shut off across both Texas Tech and its Health Sciences Center, and the university moved spring break forward, closing the campus for safety inspections and displacing approximately 7,300 students - accommodations were quickly secured with help from local partners.

According to the official statement,

“Electricity and gas were shut down across both the Texas Tech and Health Sciences Center campuses in Lubbock to keep the fire from spreading further. The fire was successfully extinguished Wednesday evening. Campus infrastructure is being thoroughly checked for safety as power comes back online following the shutdown. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.”

The five transformer vault “catastrophic failures” resulted in at least 40% of the campus losing power at the outage's peak.

No injuries were reported, but officials stressed that investigation continues into whether natural gas, electrical faults, or both were to blame. For a detailed timeline of emergency response and technical analysis, read the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's comprehensive campus alert report.

First responders' on-the-ground accounts and gas meter data are covered in-depth by this Lubbock Fire Rescue incident review.

For real-time emergency service actions and power restoration milestones, refer to KCBD's power outage and recovery summary.

A routine road construction survey for Loop 88 in Lubbock has unearthed a remarkable chapter of prehistory: a giant ground sloth tooth, dated between 18,000 and 36,000 years old from the Pleistocene Epoch, was discovered alongside other possible Ice Age megafauna remains.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in partnership with the Museum of Texas Tech University, is now leading the conservation and study of these fragile fossils.

“This is an exceedingly rare discovery for the southern plains and Llano Estacado... a major, major find for this time period,”

noted Dr. Eileen Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Museum of Texas Tech, emphasizing the significance of uncovering such ancient fauna in the region.

Other micro-vertebrates, such as tiger salamanders, were also found, shedding light on the area's ancient lakeside habitats. According to Chris Ringstaff, TxDOT project planner, “We know we've found giant ground sloth by its distinctive tooth...who doesn't love digging up big ol' animals?” Excavation protocols include searching for evidence of human activity, which could necessitate additional study under federal law but so far, construction is not expected to be delayed.

For a detailed account of the survey process and its legal implications, see this coverage on the prehistoric ground sloth bones unearthed in Lubbock by TxDOT.

To understand the scientific collaboration and context, review the report on West Texas roadwork and Ice Age giant sloth discoveries.

Don't miss TxDOT's official reflection on archaeological best practices and projects like this at Can you dig it? by TxDOT.

Giant Ground Sloth Type	Estimated Length	Estimated Weight
Nothrotheriops shastensis (Shasta Ground Sloth)	~9 feet	550 pounds
Megalonyx (Large Clawed Ground Sloth)	~10 feet	2,200 pounds

Bill Gates is painting a transformative vision for the next decade, asserting that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer in healthcare and education by making expert-level advice and tutoring universally accessible and free.

In recent interviews, Gates highlighted how “great medical advice [and] great tutoring” will soon be available to all, addressing long-standing shortages of doctors and teachers and helping bridge disparities in underserved communities.

Gates calls this emerging era “free intelligence,” where AI not only supports breakthroughs in medicine and education but also paves the way for major innovations in agriculture and climate solutions.

Some specialists remain cautious about the speed and magnitude of this shift; Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft's AI CEO, points out that, while AI will boost economic growth and productivity, it also risks destabilizing job markets.

Gates, however, is optimistic - he sees potential for reduced workweeks, improved productivity, and a higher quality of life. As he noted to Harvard's Arthur Brooks,

“It's very profound and even a little bit scary - because it's happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound.”

Real-world data reinforce these trends: the U.S. faces a projected shortage of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036, and 86% of public schools report teacher hiring challenges, issues that AI-driven companies are already tackling by automating administrative tasks and offering personalized learning aids (details on labor gaps and AI's impact).

Gates also underscored AI's role in global health during a forum in Indonesia, stating,

“AI is going to help us discover new tools. And even in the delivery of health and education and agriculture advice, we'll be using AI.”

For deeper insight into Gates' predictions on how AI is expected to reshape human work and societal routines, read the comprehensive interview on AI-driven workforce changes and explore the broader technological ramifications in his original statements to CNBC on the future of AI and human roles.

Lubbock's trajectory as a rising tech epicenter is shaped by a powerful blend of academic innovation, industry investment, and community resilience. Texas Tech University's Accelerator programs have launched 45 companies and supported over 103,000 innovators, with new initiatives like the Industry Advancement Technology (iAT) Accelerator offering up to $65,000 and expert mentorship to AI-driven startups, helping propel solutions that address regional and global challenges (learn about the iAT Accelerator's funding and mentorship opportunities).

Cross-disciplinary ventures such as MelodiaSync, recipient of the 2025 Breakthrough Award, demonstrate how research and entrepreneurial support can turn evidence-based ideas into scalable products, enhanced by the Innovation Hub's thriving ecosystem and expert mentorship (explore TTUHSC startup success stories and innovation support).

However, as AI and high-performance computing redefine local industries, community leaders remain attentive to workforce development and inclusion: Texas Tech's recent events focus on equipping youth and professionals with AI literacy and entrepreneurial skills, echoing Amy Love's call to

help our kids learn and use AI, which will be an integral part of their lives when they move forward as professionals

(discover how Lubbock prepares youth for AI futures).

As Lubbock navigates rapid technological transformations, strategic investments in innovation education, upskilling pathways, and cross-industry partnerships continue to foster a resilient community ready to seize new opportunities amid ongoing challenges.