Google will invest $17 billion to build its first data centre in Wyoming, advancing a major artificial intelligence infrastructure project that will rely partly on a planned 702-megawatt fuel-cell development equipped with carbon capture and storage technology.
The facility is being developed in partnership with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital, Google said on Thursday. Bloom Energy will supply the fuel cells for the power project.
The investment comes as data centre expansion faces growing political resistance in parts of the United States. Of 41 data centre-related ballot measures voted on during the week, all but one went against data centres, according to Ballotpedia, as cited in the report. The measures reflect rising concerns around the infrastructure demands associated with large computing facilities.
Data centres require substantial and reliable electricity supplies to operate servers and support artificial intelligence workloads. Google’s proposed fuel-cell development indicates that the Wyoming project will be linked to a dedicated power-generation arrangement rather than relying only on the wider electricity system. The planned carbon capture and storage component is intended to address emissions associated with the fuel-cell development, although the supplied report does not provide details on its design, timeline or expected capture volume.
Wyoming is a Republican stronghold where Donald Trump won more than 70% of the presidential vote in 2024. The project announcement follows midterm election results in which candidates opposed to data-centre expansion won in key races in Texas and Georgia, adding to investor concerns that political resistance could complicate the industry’s rapid growth.
The announcement also comes as investors reassess the pace of spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Microsoft has declined to expand a Texas data-centre agreement with AI cloud provider Nscale. Bloomberg News separately reported that Microsoft planned to tighten oversight of some data-centre projects involving neocloud providers Nebius, IREN and Nscale.
The market reaction has already extended to power-equipment suppliers. Shares of Bloom Energy fell more than 14% amid concerns that possible restrictions on data-centre development could affect the broader industry. The supplied report does not specify when Google’s Wyoming facility will be completed, how much land it will occupy or what additional transmission and water infrastructure the project will require.
