A massive new artificial intelligence data center is coming to Wyoming, and it's so big that it will eventually use five times more electricity than all the homes in the state combined, according to the mayor of the state’s largest city.
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins called the project a “game changer,” telling the Associated Press, “It's huge.” The facility is a joint effort between energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe. It will start by using 1.8 gigawatts of power and could expand to 10 gigawatts, the companies stated.
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More Power Than The People
To put that in perspective, Wyoming is the least populated U.S. state, with about 587,000 residents. Yet this single data center would use more electricity than the entire state currently consumes. At full capacity, the site would draw 87.6 terawatt-hours of electricity annually—double Wyoming’s total current energy production, according to Ars Technica.
Because it would be impossible to pull that much power from the public grid, the facility will rely on its own dedicated natural gas and renewable energy sources, officials from the companies told the AP
"This is exciting news for Wyoming and for Wyoming natural gas producers – and it highlights the kinds of projects we can achieve through continued trade missions, like our recent visit to Taiwan and Japan," Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement released by the companies.
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The project is expected to be built just south of Cheyenne near the Colorado border. While it still needs regulatory approval, Collins said, “I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later.”
The AI Race Is Fueling A Global Power Surge
This Wyoming facility is part of a much bigger trend. Data centers now account for 5% of total U.S. electricity demand, and that share could more than double in the next five years, according to estimates from McKinsey & Co.
“Energy will soon be the AI bottleneck,” The Kobeissi Letter posted recently, pointing to a 23% annual growth rate in power needs for AI facilities.
The expansion isn’t limited to the U.S. McKinsey expects nearly $7 trillion to be spent globally on data centers by 2030, with more than 40% of that occurring in the U.S.
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Who Is This One For? Nobody Knows Yet
While Crusoe and Tallgrass are confirmed as developers, neither company has revealed who the end user will be. When asked by AP if the project was part of OpenAI’s “Stargate” data center effort, Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt said, “We are not at a stage that we are ready to announce our tenant there. I can't confirm or deny that it's going to be one of the Stargate.”
Speculation is high due to OpenAI’s recent partnerships with Crusoe in Texas. In Abilene, OpenAI and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) have already launched what may be the world’s largest data center campus, drawing about 1 gigawatt of power, according to OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane.
OpenAI has also committed to developing another 4.5 gigawatts of capacity elsewhere but hasn’t named the locations. As of earlier this year, Wyoming was not one of the 16 states OpenAI was exploring for expansion, according to AP.
Regardless of who moves in, the project is pushing Wyoming into new territory. Known for exporting nearly 60% of its electricity and producing 12 times more energy than it consumes, the state could now become a global AI power hub instead of just a power supplier.
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