Fermi America HyperGrid/ Project Matador data center, unincorporated Carson County, Texas

Fermi America and Texas Tech are building a data center and power campus, called Project Matador, on Texas Tech land next to the Pantex nuclear weapons plant in unincorporated Carson County, Texas. Fermi first announced the campus at 11,000 megawatts of power; its own website now calls Project Matador a 17,000 megawatt campus, with about 6,000 megawatts already permitted. Only a small first phase is under construction: a 222 megawatt data center leased to TensorWave. Amarillo's city council voted 4-1 in October 2025 to sell Fermi up to 2.5 million gallons of water a day for the project.

Fermi says it holds groundwater leases in Carson County giving it access to up to 18.5 million gallons a day, and co-founder Rick Perry has said the first gigawatt would use about as much water as one irrigated cornfield. At a protest outside the old Potter County courthouse, Madison Boyle asked: "Why are we using ground water that farmers could be using for agriculture, for AI data center, where it's going to deplete a resource that's not really renewable?"

The company's finances have wobbled: a prospective tenant pulled $150 million in funding in December 2025, the board fired co-founder and chief executive Toby Neugebauer in April 2026, and Fermi said it lacked cash for the year ahead without more financing. It has since signed its first binding customer, a 15-year, $6.5 billion lease with TensorWave, but that 222 megawatt data center still depends on financing and guarantees, with delivery targeted for the second half of 2027.

Fermi has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for four AP1000 nuclear reactors that have no license yet, and the state approved air permits for up to 6,000 megawatts of gas-fired generation in February 2026 over objections. Texas ordered a state audit of large data center projects, including Matador, starting August 3, 2026, with no end date set. Amarillo considered a two-year moratorium on new data centers in May 2026, but it would not reach the campus, which sits outside city limits.