The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation, and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.
According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).
A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:
- Apple is opening a 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston that will make servers for its data centers in support of the tech giant’s AI business.
- Nvidia has teamed up with Foxconn to build a factory in Houston that will produce AI supercomputers.
- Aramco, whose Americas headquarters is in Houston, has signed a preliminary deal with Nvidia to develop advanced industrial AI computing and tackle other AI initiatives.
- Rice University is introducing a bachelor’s degree program in AI this fall.