Power usage in Wyoming AI data center could eclipse consumption of the state's human residents by 5x — tenant of colossal investment remains a mystery

Plans are afoot to create a massive new data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that would consume more power than every home in the state combined, a staggering milestone in the ongoing race to meet the excruciating power requirements of AI. The project is expected to kick off with a 1.8 gigawatt facility that would be scalable to 10 gigawatts in the future, as reported by AP.

As the report about this colossal investment in AI computing notes, generally, a single gigawatt is enough to power as many as a million homes, but the population of Wyoming, the least populous state in the U.S., is a mere 590,000 residents. According to calculations by Ars Technica, the plant would consume 15.8TWh annually, five times that of the state's residents. The full 10GW expansion would consume more than double the state's entire electricity generation each year.

Wyoming is already one of the U.S.’s top energy exporters, ranking only behind the likes of Texas, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania for its mainly oil, coal, and gas-fired energy output. EIA figures indicate the state exports almost three-fifths of the electricity it produces.

Which tech giant is behind the new Cheyenne data center plans isn’t made clear by AP, or the local politicians quoted welcoming the project. We know that the energy infrastructure is being created by a company called Tallgrass, and the AI data center will be in the hands of a developer called Crusoe.

Several tech giants already have a foothold in Wyoming – obviously a great location for power-hungry computing infrastructure, and benefiting from a cool climate. The AP says Microsoft has had data centers in the state since 2012. However, Meta has also nearly completed an $800 million data center in Cheyenne, gaining a technological anchor in the region.

Or is it for OpenAI?

The AP source report also seems to hint that ChatGPT developer OpenAI might be the new data center ‘tenant.’ A Crusoe spokesperson refused to confirm or deny that the Cheyenne location will be part of OpenAI’s ambitious ‘Stargate’ data center plans, which the ChatGPT maker is known to be actively scouting for.

Crusoe already has an established relationship with OpenAI from working on “the largest data center ... in the world” in Abilene, Texas, according to OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane.

The electricity bills of Wyoming residents, and their neighbors, could rise

The upcoming huge AI data center is so big that it will need its own dedicated energy production using a mix of gas and renewables. Despite this, and the positive spin from local politicians, some experts still think regular households could see their bills increase due to the AI industry's unquenchable thirst for energy.

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