Dallas Just Topped D.C. Here's What That Actually Means

Site Selection Magazine just named Dallas the number one tech hub in North America, ahead of Washington D.C. Wistron is putting $761 million in AI supercomputers in Fort Worth. DFW added more tech jobs than any U.S. metro between 2022 and 2024.

I've been running a practice in Texas long enough to remember when the pitch was 'Dallas is catching up to the coasts.' That story is over.

The pitch now is different. Dallas is where enterprise AI meets the industries that need it most: finance, logistics, healthcare, real estate, energy. The Fortune 500 HQ concentration here is the demand signal. The talent pipeline is the supply side. And the infrastructure buildout (data centers, manufacturing, semiconductor investment) is the foundation. We're not emerging. We've emerged.

The clients I'm most bullish on are the ones who understand that DFW isn't a secondary market. It's one of two or three places in the country where the full AI stack converges at scale: talent, demand, infrastructure, and capital, all in the same geography at the same moment. That doesn't happen often. When it does, the window to build position is shorter than it looks.

For regional firms and national firms with Texas presence, the question isn't whether to invest here. It's how fast.

If you're building an AI practice and DFW isn't a primary market in your thinking, I'd revisit that assumption before someone else plants a flag. And if you're looking, you should probably reach out the to the Dallas Regional Chamber (disclosure: we are members at Improving)