Cheyenne, Wyoming Mayor Patrick Collins surprised us this week with his announcement of plans for what would be one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence data centers. The complex would use more electricity than all of the state of Wyoming’s residential homes combined, a mind-boggling power use that’s a harsh reminder of all artificial intelligence is asking for. The project is a partnership between energy infrastructure firm Tallgrass and AI data center builder Crusoe. Beginning with 1.8 gigawatts of power usage, the structure would ultimately expand to a colossal 10 gigawatts enough to overshadow many current data centers in the world.
To put these numbers into perspective, Wyoming is the smallest state in the United States. However, one data center’s initial phase would consume 15.8 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, five times larger than all the electricity consumed by all the residential, commercial, and industrial accounts in the entire state.
That represents the equivalent of 91% of all the electricity that is currently being consumed by Wyoming’s residential, commercial, and industrial sectors combined.
Wyoming’s AI Energy Shift
At 10 gigawatts, the data center would consume 87.6 terawatt-hours of electricity each year twice the 43.2 terawatt-hours Wyoming currently generates from all sources. These figures unveil the colossal size of contemporary AI infrastructure and the energy implications it has.
With these massive energy requirements, the data center cannot just tap into Wyoming’s current electric grid. Rather, the project itself will have to provide its own power from dedicated natural gas facilities as well as alternative sources of energy, Collins and company representatives explain.
This strategy is a paradigm shift for Wyoming’s energy economy. The state already exports close to 60% of its produced electricity outside the state, but this new plant would generate unprecedented in-state demand even with its self-generation.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon greeted the news, singling out the potential benefit to Wyoming natural gas producers. “This is good news for Wyoming and for Wyoming natural gas producers,” Gordon said in a company release.
The new data center would be constructed a few miles south of Cheyenne, close to the state line with Colorado along US Route 85. Although state and local regulators must sign off on the deal, Collins was optimistic about proceeding rapidly.
“I think they’re going to go sooner than later,” Collins said to reporters, implying that the companies want to start building as soon as they get necessary approvals.
Massive Data Center Coming to Wyoming, But Who’s the Client?
Cheyenne has become increasingly attractive to tech companies over the past decade. Microsoft and Meta have both established data centers in the area since 2012, drawn by Wyoming’s cool climate and abundant energy resources. The state’s business-friendly regulations and low costs have also played a role in attracting these facilities.
But this new initiative leads Wyoming into uncharted territory. Although America’s third-largest net energy supplier 12 times larger, to be exact, than its own energy consumption, based largely on fossil fuels the state’s capacity to generate electricity is not limitless.
One fascinating detail of the announcement is that Tallgrass and Crusoe won’t say who exactly will be taking advantage of all this computing brawn. The companies are not sharing their would-be tenant with the public, which has sent the technology community into wild speculation.
Others are asking whether the plant could be related to OpenAI’s Stargate AI infrastructure project, which OpenAI revealed in the opening months of the year. When questioned by The Associated Press about any possible link to Stargate, Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt was coy.
“We are not to a point where we’re prepared to make an announcement of our tenant there,” Schmitt said. “I can neither confirm nor deny that it’s one of the Stargate.”
OpenAI recently opened a similar Crusoe-designed campus in Abilene, Texas, with approximately one gigawatt of capacity and among the world’s largest data center campuses.
The company also has agreed to develop another 4.5 gigawatts of capacity in partnership ventures, though the locations were not disclosed.
The Wyoming project illustrates the massive investments in infrastructure required to support the latest AI systems, and technology companies are racing to stake a claim on the computing capacity required for future-generation artificial intelligence uses.
