Branded datacenter project fails to make itself great, again

The struggles continue for Fermi America's 17 GW bit barn ambitions
It’s been a weekend filled with dizzying changes in the boardroom at datacenter wannabe Fermi America as it hopes eventually to expand its West Texas campus to about 17 gigawatts of behind-the-meter generation capacity.

The company’s CEO and co-founder Toby Neugebauer quit suddenly on Friday.

Then on Sunday CFO Miles Everson resigned and moved into a board seat, while Neugebauer remained a director, as a group of new leaders searches for their replacements.

Fermi has struggled to get power equipment and to find a hyperscaler customer as an anchor tenant for its massive datacenter.

It had reportedly found a tenant in November.

However, during the company's March earnings call, it stated it had not yet won a renter for any of its planned buildout.

Analysts at Stifel were among those who took part in a call with Fermi’s new leadership over the weekend that sought to soothe jittery investors.

They saw an upside to Neugebauer’s departure, according to a research note published Sunday.

“While the CEO’s departure clearly creates concern, a conversation with management indicated: 1) there is nothing nefarious behind Mr.

Neugebauer’s departure and 2) FRMI has seen an acceleration in customer conversations since the announcement of the CEO departure on Friday afternoon,” Stifel wrote.

“In our view, this indicates there was friction between customers and Mr.

Neugebauer and negotiation could be simpler going forward.”
Fermi offered no rationale for the change, but Neugebauer is facing multiple lawsuits, with one accusing him of fraud , after his previous venture, an anti-woke lending app, collapsed into bankruptcy.

Neugebauer has in turn sued several of his previous investors under RICO statutes.

Among them are conservative personality and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, PayPal and Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel, as well as Thiel's venture investment firm, Founders Fund.

According to a Politico story, Neugebauer – who previously lived in a scale recreation of the White House in Dallas – recently got into a spat with current US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick at Nvidia’s GTC conference, where he reportedly accused Lutnick of blocking some portion of Project Matador, also known as The President Donald J.

Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus .

In SEC filings last year, Fermi outlined plans for four Westinghouse nuclear reactors, alongside solar arrays and natural gas turbines, to deliver up to 11 gigawatts of behind-the-meter power for AI infrastructure, with the campus potentially expanding to about 17 GW if it secures additional land and permits.

The 5,263-acre site where most of the construction is happening is owned by the Texas Tech University System and sits beside the Panhandle-Hugoton Gas Field, which is one of the largest known natural gas fields in the US.

Project Matador also abuts Pantex, where for the last 70 years the US Department of Energy has built and now disassembles nuclear weapons and stores plutonium, according to the Pantex website.

Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton offered supportive remarks adding that the university and Fermi America are in discussions to extend certain lease milestones.

“Project Matador has the potential to deliver generational impact—not just for (Texas Tech), but for national security, American energy independence, and the future of advanced research and industry in West Texas," Creighton said in a statement.

The corporate changes announced Monday were branded as "Fermi 2.0."
Lead Independent Board Director Marius Haas was named chairman of the board.

A veteran technology executive with previous leadership roles at Compaq, HPE, KKR and Dell, Haas will also oversee the search for Neugebauer’s replacement.

For now, the company has created the "Office of the CEO" — a dual-leadership structure led by newly appointed Co-Presidents Jacobo Ortiz Blanes, the former COO, and Anna Bofa, a former board advisor with a background at Google, Dropbox, Pinterest, and Meta.

Haas made it clear the company has no plans to give up on Project Matador – which could expand to 17 gigawatts and 7,200 acres – as it looks for a new CEO.

A permanent CEO search is underway, with a board committee of Haas, Lee McIntire, and Cordel Robbin-Coker overseeing the process.

The company has also engaged executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help.

In addition to searching for new personnel, the company is establishing a new headquarters in Dallas and building out an office in Amarillo near the Project Matador site, while adding two additional board seats.

One seat was claimed by Miles Everson, who resigned from the CFO role to take the board seat.

The company says it is negotiating with a candidate to be interim CFO.

New to the board is Jeffrey S.

Stein, an experienced corporate turnaround advisor and co-founder of Breakpoint Advisory Partners, who has previously been on the boards of Sunnova Energy International Inc., Vertex Energy, Inc., and Rite Aid Corporation, among others.