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Fermi Fires CEO Toby Neugebauer After Failing to Sign Data Center Clients
Fermi Inc., which went public in October at a valuation above $19 billion with no revenue or customers, has terminated its top executive after months of unsuccessful efforts to secure tenants for its planned 17-gigawatt energy project in Texas.
May 8, 10:33 AM·3m read1 source
Los Angeles TimesAudio version
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Fermi Inc. has fired its chief executive Toby Neugebauer after the company failed to sign any clients for its planned data center power project near Amarillo, Texas. The startup, which went public in October with a market value exceeding $19 billion despite reporting no revenue or signed customers, had leased more than 5,000 acres to build power plants capable of generating 17 gigawatts of electricity.
That output is three times the amount typically consumed by New York City. The project, known as Project Matador or the President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus, proposed supplying power first from natural gas turbines and later from nuclear reactors directly to data centers built on the site.
Fermi leased the land from the Texas Tech University System at a location near several natural gas pipelines and close to the nation's largest nuclear weapons production facility. The company had an agreement to tap one pipeline sufficient for an initial 2 gigawatts of generation and held a 0.2-gigawatt connection to the local grid.
The board terminated Neugebauer and Chief Financial Officer Miles Everson after months of negotiations failed to produce a single client. In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Fermi said Neugebauer was fired for conduct that violated his employment agreement as well as the company's policies.
The company initially reported that he would remain on the board but later stated that he had been removed from it. Neugebauer, who co-founded the company with former Texas governor Rick Perry, responded that he was removed without cause. He called the board's actions "completely misguided" and said he would continue working to maximize value for shareholders.
