Utah Residents Stall O'Leary's 9-Gigawatt AI Data Center as Litigation Freezes 40,000-Acre Project
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Oct 1
Utah Residents Stall O'Leary's 9-Gigawatt AI Data Center as Litigation Freezes 40,000-Acre Project
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Oct 1
Summary
A 40,000-acre, 9-gigawatt Utah AI campus pitched by Kevin O’Leary as the world’s biggest data center has lost momentum and is effectively on pause.
Box Elder County residents rebelled after learning of the Stratos project only after state-level approvals advanced through Utah’s MIDA agency, which can override local land-use controls.
The backlash quickly spread across party lines, helped unseat local commissioners and former Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams, and turned the project into a statewide political liability.
A referendum seeking to revoke county consent was rejected and is now in court, leaving the project tied up in litigation at a moment when speed is critical for AI data-center developers.
The fight has become a broader test of the AI infrastructure boom, showing how local opposition, water and pollution fears, and weak job promises can slow even heavily promoted projects.