Cheyenne to Host Massive AI Data Center That’ll Use More Power Than Every Home in Wyoming

Cheyenne’s about to get a whole lot more wired.

A massive new artificial intelligence data center is set to rise just south of Wyoming’s capital — and once it’s running, it’ll suck up more electricity than every single home in the state combined. And that’s just the beginning. The facility could eventually grow to use five times that amount of power.

“This is a game changer. It’s huge,” said Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins on Monday.

The project is a partnership between energy company Tallgrass and AI-focused data center developer Crusoe, and will start off pulling 1.8 gigawatts of electricity — eventually scalable up to 10 gigawatts. To put that in perspective, one gigawatt can power about a million homes. And Wyoming doesn’t even have that many people (the entire state’s population hovers around 590,000).

So why Cheyenne? Turns out it’s a sweet spot for tech: cool weather to keep servers from overheating, plenty of cheap power, and a state that produces way more energy than it uses. Wyoming ranks just behind Texas, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania in net energy production and exports the majority of the power it generates.

The state’s also no stranger to tech growth. Microsoft has had data centers in Cheyenne since 2012, and Meta (Facebook’s parent company) is wrapping up work on an $800 million facility nearby.

The new AI data center would get its own dedicated energy sources, powered by both natural gas and renewables, according to Collins and company officials. That setup helps it avoid putting too much stress on the public grid — though there’s still a chance electric customers could see their bills go up as utilities adapt to these mega-projects.

Governor Mark Gordon is already cheering the news, especially for what it means for Wyoming’s natural gas producers.

“This is exciting news for Wyoming,” Gordon said. “It’s a big win for our energy industry.”

The data center is planned for a site off US Highway 85, just north of the Colorado border. It still needs state and local approval, but Collins says the developers are eager to break ground soon.

Now, if you’re wondering whether OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT — is behind this enormous buildout, you’re not alone. While OpenAI has been searching for Stargate data center locations across the country and recently partnered with Crusoe in Texas, the company won’t confirm if Cheyenne is part of that vision… at least not yet.

“We’re not at a stage where we’re ready to announce our tenant there,” Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt said. “I can’t confirm or deny that it’s part of Stargate.”

OpenAI has already lit up the first phase of a 1-gigawatt “campus” in Abilene, Texas, and just announced another 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity in partnership with Oracle. So while Cheyenne wasn’t originally on OpenAI’s shortlist, that may be changing.

The original story by Mead Gruver and Matt O’Brien for the Associated Press.