One of the most power-hungry AI data centres in the world might soon be built in Wyoming. The shocking news came on Monday, when Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins announced a proposed data centre that, at full scale, would use more electricity than every home in the state combined. The facility will be spearheaded by energy company Tallgrass and AI infrastructure developer Crusoe, and it is projected to open with 1.8 gigawatts of power consumption, ramping up to a whopping 10 gigawatts.
To put that in perspective, the initial 1.8-gigawatt phase alone would consume 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year—five times the power usage of every Wyoming household. That is 91 percent of the total 17.3 TWh that is now being used in all sectors in the state. In the event that the centre achieves its 10-gigawatt capacity, it would require 87.6 TWh of electricity per annum, which is twice the amount of electricity the state is currently producing.
Because the energy load is huge, it is impossible to use the public grid. Rather, the project will be based on a combination of committed gas-fired generation and renewable energy. Although this avoids putting any immediate pressure on the grid, the volume of energy consumption is a paradigm shift towards a state that sells close to 60 percent of its energy production.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon declared the project a victory for the natural gas industry in the state, and Collins hoped there would be quick regulatory approval. The facility will be constructed in the south of Cheyenne, close to the Colorado border.
The aim of the project is kept secret. Crusoe has yet to reveal who will ultimately occupy the space, but the rumours are rife that it will be the OpenAI Stargate project, which is rapidly expanding data infrastructure in the U.S. Although Crusoe has collaborated with OpenAI in the past, constructing a Texas data centre that is currently the largest in the world, its spokesperson refused to say whether Wyoming is next.
Regardless of who the tenant may be, the implications are clear: Wyoming is entering the big leagues of AI development, and it’s doing so on an electrifying scale.
