Inside our months-long investigation into Kevin O’Leary’s Utah data center debacle
Today I’m talking with Josh Dzieza, a longtime features writer here at The Verge, about Kevin O’Leary’s plans to build a massive data center in Utah. The idea was to build the world’s biggest data center — a 40,000-acre AI campus with nine gigawatts of power, or more than double the average power usage of […]
According to Josh Dzieza, a features writer at The Verge, Kevin O'Leary's plan to build the world's largest data center in Utah, known as Stratos or Wonder Valley, encountered significant opposition from the local community. The project initially ran through the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), which allowed for expedited permitting and zoning.
However, local officials, state government agencies, and angry residents raised numerous concerns about the data center's impact on the environment, community, and taxes. As the controversy escalated, O'Leary faced a defamation lawsuit for alleging that his critics were Chinese spies on Fox News, which ultimately led to an on-air apology.
The story highlights the challenges AI industry infrastructure projects face when encountering local democracy and opposition from communities.
Written by urgent.news from The Verge's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
