Trump’s Stargate AI Project in Huge Trouble As $18 Billion Data Center Shrivels Toward Oblivion
TL;DR
Oracle has sent a force majeure notice to lender Blue Owl Capital over a hyperscale data center in New Mexico, saying it could not secure the required development permits. The site belongs to Project Jupiter, a $165 billion AI campus within the $500 billion Stargate initiative backed by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank, and was planned for 2.45 gigawatts of compute. After a natural gas plant was denied permits in May, Oracle switched to solid oxide fuel cells, a technology never deployed at this scale.
Nauti's Take
On the upside, the case shows that permits and energy set real limits, which is an advantage for sites with existing grid access and for smaller, more efficient data centers. The risk for Stargate is concrete: if Oracle uses force majeure to escape deadlines, financing and timelines start to slip.
Investors and companies counting on this capacity by 2028 should plan for alternatives.
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