THE SHORT VERSION

Google bets $17 billion on Wyoming — days after voters said no to datacenters

A vast factory labeled "AI" under a "FEED THE MACHINE" headline is fed barrels of POWER and WATER, a truckload of CHIPS, and a dump truck of MONEY, while a mechanical claw hands back a bowl reading "MORE" beside a list: MORE COMPUTE, MORE DATA, MORE PROFIT, MORE CONTROL. — Machine Age Cartoon · Zimbo

Google will spend $17 billion building its first data center in Wyoming, in Laramie County, with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital — announced two days after voters backed limits on data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot measures.

The site will draw power in part from a planned 702-megawatt fuel-cell development with carbon capture and storage, which Google calls the largest of its kind to date, with fuel cells made in America by Bloom Energy and captured carbon stored at Tallgrass's Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub.

Google says it will pay for 100% of the power the data center uses, cover the grid upgrades its growth drives, air-cool the site to cut water use, and expects the project to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes.