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

Microsoft data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming
(Image credit: Microsoft Blog)

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.

Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • COLGeek
    Perhaps MetaCortex?
    Reply
  • jonaswox
    Just the irony of all this on the back of the esg rush, Prius marathon and people falling over each other to brand themselves as green.

    Jets are still dumping endless tons of fuel in the air everyday, and ai spend 80% of the world Energy in a couple of years..... Maybe if we ask the ai to fix climate?
    Reply
  • Notton
    That's very cool because Wyoming produces around 52% of its electricity from Coal, and 35% from wind/solar.
    and by very cool, I mean very dirty and uncool.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Okay, that's it. We're definitely going to end up boiling the oceans.
    : (
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    bit_user said:
    Okay, that's it. We're definitely going to end up boiling the oceans.
    : (
    Human batteries...
    Reply
  • rluker5
    bit_user said:
    Okay, that's it. We're definitely going to end up boiling the oceans.
    : (
    Nah, we will run out of cheap energy first and those who aren't rich will have to do without.
    Thanks to the necessities of AI and crypto.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    Politicians and corporate reps will always say that new data centers will not put a strain on existing power supply or raise prices for consumers prior to approval and construction of the data center. They immediately flip the script after the data center is built and demand residents pay more. This has been an ongoing problem in the Washington DC metro area. My energy bills had a big jump earlier this year after a few small ones in the past. Don't be fooled.

    I think these massive AI centers need to supply their own electricity. They should be required to build power generation somewhere nearby as part of building the data center. AI is being treated like an infinite money glitch right now so I don't want to hear any excuses about how this would harm businesses.
    Reply
  • SonoraTechnical
    COLGeek said:
    Human batteries...
    Run Neo Run!
    Reply
  • SonoraTechnical
    bit_user said:
    Okay, that's it. We're definitely going to end up boiling the oceans.
    : (
    It will not end well. Me, a guy who's worked in the tech industry as an enabler his entire life... regrets not taking up regenerative farming.
    Reply
  • MarkHarrison
    Cheyenne?

    Someone remind me what the name of the base in the Stargate Cinematic Universe was called?

    And I know that the town is about 3 hours from the mountain, but still, it would be a massive missed opportunity to have this data centre for anything else.
    Reply