Fermi's 10-K unveils Project Matador: a giant 11 GW AI power campus. Bold vision, but success hinges on tenant deals and funding.
This article covers information on Fermi Inc..
LON:FRMIFermi Inc. has filed its maiden 10-K, and it’s a meaty read. The dual-listed developer (Nasdaq and LSE) is building “Project Matador” – a private, on-site power and AI infrastructure campus in the Texas Panhandle – with ambitions up to 11 GW of generation and roughly 15 million square feet of AI-ready powered shells. Think of it as an energy-first data campus designed to sidestep grid bottlenecks by putting the turbines next to the compute.
It’s early stage, capital intensive and audacious. Here’s what matters for investors.
Fermi controls 5,236 acres under a 99-year ground lease with the Texas Tech University System and expects to expand the campus to about 7,570 acres through adjacent parcels. In February 2026, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) granted final approval for an approximately 6 GW natural gas-fired air permit. On 27 March 2026, Fermi applied for an additional 5 GW permit. If approved, the site could be authorised for up to ~11 GW of gas generation alone, with potential to push to ~17 GW if further land and permits are secured.
The roadmap runs in phases:
Fermi has changed its timeline. The earlier target of ~1.1 GW online by end-2026 is off the table. The company now expects “nearly 2.0 GW” of gas + grid by the end of 2027, subject to project financing, installation/commissioning and tenant readiness.
Crucially, they’ve banked hardware to de-risk the ramp:
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Those blocks total around 1.5 GW of simple-cycle capacity under Fermi’s control before efficiency gains from combined-cycle conversions. Early batteries are planned to smooth intra-second AI load swings and provide ride‑through.
On customers, Fermi’s biggest near-term swing factor is converting interest into contracts. The 10-K confirms a non-binding LOI with an investment-grade “First Tenant”, but the associated advance agreement for up to $150.0 million was terminated by the tenant on 11 December 2025 after exclusivity expired. Discussions continue, and Fermi says it has opened talks with several other potential hyperscaler and AI infrastructure tenants, with some parties exchanging drafts or carrying out confirmatory diligence. As at the filing date, however, there are no definitive leases.
Why it matters: binding leases unlock non-recourse project finance and dictate sequencing. Without them, schedules and capital costs can drift.
Fermi raised $745.6 million net in its October 2025 IPO. Since then, it has stitched together a stack of equipment and warehouse facilities to secure long-lead kit and grid hardware:
As at 31 December 2025, Fermi reported $408.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and $935.3 million invested in property, plant and equipment. Management estimates Phase 0 and Phase 1 capex could exceed $3 billion in aggregate, with about $2 billion expected over the next 12 months – explicitly subject to executing a definitive tenant lease and aligning with deployment timelines. The company intends to operate as a REIT from 2025, with some activities pushed into taxable REIT subsidiaries.
| Cash and cash equivalents (31 Dec 2025) | $408.5 million |
| Property, plant and equipment | $935.3 million |
| Total assets | $1,413.3 million |
| Total liabilities | $317.4 million |
| Net loss (period to 31 Dec 2025) | $(486.4) million |
| Shares outstanding (23 Mar 2026) | 629,839,790 |
| Air permits | ~6 GW approved; +5 GW application filed |
| Grid power via SPS | Up to 200 MW (86 MW H2 2026; 114 MW targeted YE 2026/2027) |
| On-site generation secured | ~1.5 GW simple-cycle equipment under control |
| Target by end-2027 | Nearly 2.0 GW (gas + grid), subject to financing and readiness |
Fermi’s site economics hinge on logistics and inputs. On gas, there’s a firm supply arrangement with Energy Transfer, contemplating scalable deliveries up to ~300,000 MMBtu/day over time, and the site is near major pipelines. For cooling, the City of Amarillo approved up to 2.5 MGD with a path to 10 MGD, and Fermi has a 30‑year groundwater lease over ~2,542 acres; a hybrid cooling approach aims to trim water intensity. Two major fibre corridors run along the campus boundary, and the company has progressed grid interconnections at 230 kV and 115 kV. On nuclear, the NRC has kicked off EIS scoping and Fermi is in a pilot programme for applicant-prepared EISs – potentially a helpful (if not guaranteed) accelerator.
Fermi’s pitch is simple: AI needs firm, abundant power faster than the grid can deliver, so bring gas (and later nuclear) to the campus and rent power capacity as an “incident of tenancy”. The 10-K shows solid progress on permits, equipment and site enablement. However, the investment case hinges on two near-term catalysts: binding anchor leases and project-level financing. Until those arrive, timelines remain elastic and equity could stay volatile.
If Fermi signs one or more multi-gigawatt tenants and closes non-recourse project finance against those cash flows, the 6 GW permit and hardware stockpile put them in a strong delivery lane. If not, the carrying costs of long-lead assets and development overheads will bite.
This is one of the market’s most ambitious private-power plays for AI. The upside is obvious: capacity scarcity meets a campus permitted at gigawatt scale. The trade-off is equally clear: no revenue yet, rising capex, and an execution path that depends on big contracts and bigger financing. For high-risk, long-duration infrastructure investors who believe in sustained AI power demand, Fermi’s 10-K lays out a credible but challenging path. For everyone else, keep it on the watchlist and let the next few quarters answer the two big questions: tenants and funding.
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