Wyoming AI Data Center to Dwarf State's Total Power Use
Cheyenne, Wyoming, is set to host a massive new artificial intelligence (AI) data center, a project so ambitious it could eventually consume more electricity than the entire state currently generates. Announced by Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins, the facility is a joint venture between energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe.
The project is slated to begin operations at 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of power consumption, with plans to scale up to an unprecedented 10 GW. To put this into perspective, the initial 1.8 GW phase alone is projected to consume 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually. This figure is more than five times the electricity used by all households in Wyoming combined and represents a staggering 91 percent of the 17.3 TWh currently consumed by all of Wyoming’s residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.
Should the data center reach its full 10 GW capacity, its annual electricity demand would soar to 87.6 TWh. This would be double the 43.2 TWh that the entire state of Wyoming currently generates. Recognizing the impracticality of drawing such immense power from the public grid, project officials have stated that the facility will rely on its own dedicated gas generation and renewable energy sources.
This self-contained power generation marks a significant shift for Wyoming, a state that historically exports nearly 60 percent of the electricity it produces. Governor Mark Gordon lauded the project, highlighting its potential benefits for the state’s natural gas industry. “This is exciting news for Wyoming and for Wyoming natural gas producers,” Gordon remarked in a company statement.
The proposed site for the data center is located several miles south of Cheyenne, near the Colorado border, off US Route 85. While the project awaits approval from state and local regulators, Mayor Collins expressed optimism for a swift commencement, stating, “I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later.”
Cheyenne is already a hub for data centers, having attracted facilities from tech giants like Microsoft and Meta since 2012, largely due to its cool climate and access to energy. However, this new undertaking pushes the state into uncharted territory in terms of scale. Wyoming is the nation’s third-largest net energy supplier, producing 12 times more total energy than it consumes, primarily from fossil fuels. Despite this, its electricity supply, even with self-generation, is finite, making the sheer demand of this project noteworthy.
Neither Tallgrass nor Crusoe has disclosed the ultimate user of this vast computing power, leading to speculation about potential tenants. One prominent theory connects the project to OpenAI’s ambitious “Stargate” AI infrastructure initiative, which was announced in January. When questioned by the Associated Press, Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt remained non-committal regarding any link to Stargate, stating, “We are not at a stage that we are ready to announce our tenant there. I can’t confirm or deny that is going to be one of the Stargate.”
This speculation is fueled by OpenAI’s existing collaborations. The company recently activated the first phase of a Crusoe-built data center complex in Abilene, Texas, in partnership with Oracle. Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, described the Texas facility as generating “roughly and depending how you count, about a gigawatt of energy,” calling it “the largest data center—we think of it as a campus—in the world.” OpenAI has also committed to developing an additional 4.5 GW of data center capacity through an agreement with Oracle, bringing their identified energy capacity to over five gigawatts. While OpenAI has not disclosed the locations for these expansions, Wyoming was not among the 16 states the company had previously listed as potential sites earlier this year.