Fermi's $6.5B TensorWave Lease and New CEO Mark a Reset After Months of Turmoil
Fermi Inc. (NASDAQ: FRMI) has signed a $6.5 billion lease with AI cloud provider TensorWave for part of its massive data center and power complex in Amarillo, Texas, the company's most concrete commercial commitment to date after months of leadership upheaval and a steep stock selloff. The deal, reported August 10, comes just days after Fermi appointed Lee McIntire as its new chief executive on August 12, 2026, ending a period of interim governance that followed the termination of co-founder and former CEO Toby Neugebauer for cause in late April. ABC7 Amarillo TechCrunch
McIntire, an independent board member who previously held chief executive positions at CH2M Hill, takes the reins of a company whose public-market journey has been volatile. Fermi filed for its IPO in September 2025 and went public in early October, valued at $15 billion in its Nasdaq debut amid surging investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure stocks. E&E News Texas Standard Reuters
The company, founded by former US Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Neugebauer, aims to build four large nuclear reactors in the Texas Panhandle to fuel AI data centers at an estimated cost of about $17 billion. The site was initially to be powered by natural gas, with the nuclear buildout as the longer-term plan. Fermi had said construction of what it billed as the world's largest data center would begin at its Texas site by the end of 2025. Bloomberg The Washington Post
The turbulence began in earnest on April 17, 2026, when Fermi's board created an Interim Office of the CEO, which included Chief Operating Officer Jacobo Ortiz. Two days later, on April 19, the board appointed Jeffrey S. Stein as a new director. Then, in a sequence that played out across late April, Fermi said it terminated Neugebauer for cause. The company's shares dropped nearly 20% on news of the chief executive's departure, and the stock had already fallen roughly 72% from its debut valuation before the selloff deepened. Perry, who sits on the board, was part of the body that ousted the CEO. SEC Filing (April 17) SEC Filing (April 19) Bloomberg WSJ
The $6.5 billion TensorWave lease and the McIntire appointment arrive as Fermi attempts to re-anchor its narrative around execution rather than governance drama. The lease covers part of the Amarillo power-and-data-center campus and represents a forward commercial commitment to a tenant in the AI infrastructure space. The question for investors and industry participants is whether a company that went from a $15 billion IPO valuation to an 80% drawdown, cycled through two CEOs and an interim office, and is attempting one of the most capital-intensive energy-and-computing projects ever proposed in the US can convert a signed lease and a new chief executive into construction milestones and revenue.
The scope of the ambition remains the central fact. Four large nuclear reactors, a gas-fired interim power strategy, and a data-center campus of claimed record scale, all in the Texas Panhandle, represent a capital stack and execution risk that few companies in the AI-infrastructure space have attempted to underwrite. The $6.5 billion lease with TensorWave provides a demand-side anchor. The $17 billion nuclear cost estimate provides the supply-side challenge. The gap between the two, and Fermi's ability to bridge it through equity, debt, and potentially federal loan support, will determine whether the Amarillo project moves from press release to pour.
For now, Fermi has a new CEO with infrastructure-construction experience, a major tenant lease, and a board that has demonstrated willingness to act decisively on governance. It also carries the valuation scars and execution risk of a company whose public life has been defined more by disruption than delivery.
