Cleanview- Developer / Operator: Fermi America
- Location: Amarillo, Texas (adjacent to the Pantex nuclear weapons plant)
- Total Planned Capacity: Up to 17 GW at full build-out
- Grid Strategy: Hybrid; ~2 GW of onsite gas generation equipment secured; 200 MW grid connection from Xcel Energy subsidiary SPS planned
- Status: Construction largely stalled; no tenant secured; CEO and CFO departed April 2026
Background
Fermi America is a Texas-based energy and data center company co-founded by Toby Neugebauer, whose father is retired Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer, and Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas and Trump's first Secretary of Energy. The company went public in October 2025, raising approximately $746 million despite having no revenue, no data center operating experience, and no contracted tenants. The IPO valued the company at nearly $20 billion.
Fermi is developing Project Matador, originally announced as the "President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus," on roughly 7,570 acres of land leased from the Texas Tech University System. The company initially pitched an 11 GW campus, later increased to 17 GW after securing additional air permits. It told investors it expected to launch the first one million square feet of space by April 2026 and generate 1 GW of power by the end of 2026. Fermi said it expected to generate $1.5 billion in revenue for every 1 GW of capacity built.
From the start, Fermi touted its proximity to the White House. In July 2025, Trump signed an executive order designating AI data centers at DOE facilities as critical defense infrastructure, directly benefiting Fermi's site adjacent to Pantex. On its first earnings call, Neugebauer disclosed that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had personally intervened to help the company secure Siemens turbines during trade negotiations with Germany.
Tenant Collapse and Financial Distress
In November 2025, Fermi announced it had signed a $150 million funding agreement with an unnamed, investment-grade tenant. Neugebauer told Business Insider the tenant was Amazon, though Fermi later issued a statement saying it "categorically denies Business Insider's claim."
The deal quickly unraveled. In Fermi's first investor presentation in November, the final slide showed tenant negotiations were behind schedule. An analyst pressed for details; Neugebauer said they were just three weeks behind. Three weeks later, the exclusivity window expired on December 9. Two days after that, the tenant formally terminated the agreement. No funds had been drawn. Fermi's stock immediately fell 34%.
A class action lawsuit was filed in January 2026 alleging Fermi had overstated tenant demand and failed to disclose how dependent the project was on a single tenant's funding commitment.
On the company's second earnings call on March 30, executives confirmed they still hadn't secured a tenant. The CFO said they wouldn't invest significant capital into construction until they had one, and told investors Fermi "could be forced to... surrender collateral to preserve liquidity," referring to the Siemens turbines. Fermi reported a full-year 2025 net loss of $486 million.
CEO and CFO Departures
On April 17, 2026, Neugebauer departed as CEO effective immediately, followed shortly by CFO Miles Everson. Fermi's market cap had fallen from nearly $20 billion to $3.4 billion. The company created an interim Office of the CEO staffed by COO Jacobo Ortiz and board observer Anna Bofa.
The departure turned into a public fight. Fermi's board said Neugebauer was terminated "for cause as a direct result of serious misconduct." Neugebauer called for a special shareholder meeting, which the board said was an attempt "to fill the board with his acolytes to force a sale of the company at a depressed valuation." Caddis Capital, the second-largest shareholder at 9.3%, backed the board.
Construction Progress
Fermi has claimed the "initial phase of construction" is "already complete." But as of April 2026, no data center buildings have been constructed at the site, according to our satellite image analysis.
Land clearing began in October 2025, the same month as the IPO. In February 2026, Fermi confirmed it had paused construction while awaiting its TCEQ air permit, which it received on February 25. But satellite imagery from April 2026, two months after the permit was secured and the month Fermi originally said it would finish its first million square feet of space, shows the site looking essentially the same as it did in February.
For context, six months after breaking ground, Crusoe's Stargate Abilene campus had its first building shell complete. Meta's Hyperion campus in Louisiana showed dramatically more construction progress at the same stage. Fermi's site shows only preliminary land clearing.
If Fermi secured a tenant today and replicated Crusoe's construction speed at Abilene (13 months from vertical construction to going live, running 24 hours a day), the first buildings would not come online until mid-2027, at least a full year behind the timeline projected in the IPO filing.
Power Strategy
Fermi's Phase 1 power strategy is built around a series of gas turbine acquisitions totaling approximately 2 GW, supplemented by 200 MW of grid power.
- 7x GE TM2500 (via Mobile Power Solutions): 157.5 MW, secured through a long-term capital lease
- 3x GE Frame 6B + 1 GE steam turbine (refurbished): 135 MW simple cycle, 200+ MW combined cycle
- 6x Siemens SGT800 + 6 HRSGs + 1 SST600 steam turbine (via Firebird LNG): 478 MW ISO, 400+ MW at site elevation
- 3x Siemens SGT6-5000F (LOI): Up to 1.1 GW combined cycle
- Grid supply (SPS/Xcel): 200 MW (starting at 86 MW)
The company has also contracted with Westinghouse to deploy four AP1000 nuclear reactors (4.5 GW) as a long-term Phase 2, though those would require years of NRC permitting.
Whether the turbines remain at Fermi is uncertain. On the March 30 earnings call, the CFO suggested the company may need to sell turbine collateral to preserve liquidity. Neugebauer pushed back, saying he'd "auction off my two boys first before I would let one of these gensets go."
Key Partners
- Siemens Energy: SGT800 turbines (purchased), SGT6-5000F turbines (LOI)
- Mobile Power Solutions: GE TM2500 turbine lease
- GE Vernova: TM2500 and Frame 6B turbines
- Southwestern Public Service Company (Xcel): 200 MW grid supply
- Westinghouse: Four AP1000 nuclear reactors (Phase 2)
Timeline
- June 2025: Project Matador announced
- July 2025: Trump executive order designates AI data centers at DOE facilities as critical defense infrastructure
- October 2025: Fermi goes public, raising ~$746 million; land clearing begins
- November 2025: $150 million tenant funding agreement signed
- December 2025: Tenant terminates agreement; stock falls 34%
- January 2026: Class action lawsuit filed; SPS grid supply begins at 86 MW
- February 2026: Construction paused; TCEQ air permit received February 25
- March 2026: Second earnings call: still no tenant; CFO warns of potential collateral surrender
- April 2026: CEO Neugebauer and CFO Everson depart; satellite imagery shows no building construction; market cap falls to ~$3.4 billion
- May 2026: Neugebauer calls for special shareholder meeting; board and second-largest shareholder oppose