O’Leary scales back Utah AI data centre amid regulatory pressure

Kevin O’Leary has agreed to significantly reduce the scale of Project Stratos, a proposed artificial intelligence data centre in Utah, removing 19,430 acres from the original 40,000-acre plan. The decision follows intense pressure from Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams and local residents concerned about the environmental impact of the massive development.

In a letter sent to Adams on Thursday, O’Leary confirmed the reduction, which brings the total footprint of the project to approximately 20,000 acres. The revised site is located in and around the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area. O’Leary also committed to cutting an additional 620 acres in the northeast portion of the project near the highway and preserving a majority of the remaining land as open space.

The downsizing comes shortly after Adams publicly called for the project to be slashed by 75 percent, which would have reduced the site to roughly 10,000 acres. Adams had also requested that O’Leary implement technology to minimise water consumption and divert excess water to the Great Salt Lake, which continues to shrink. While O’Leary has addressed the size concerns, the specific technologies for water management have not been detailed in the source material.

Despite the reduction, the new 20,000-acre footprint remains larger than the area of Manhattan. Data centres of this magnitude continue to raise significant concerns regarding energy usage, environmental impact, and pollution, issues that were highlighted in earlier reporting by local affiliate ABC4.

The agreement marks a pivotal shift for the project, which had faced mounting pushback from activists and residents. By agreeing to the halving of the site, O’Leary has moved to address the immediate regulatory and community objections, though the long-term operational details regarding water diversion and energy consumption remain to be fully realised.