O'Leary Digital Builds 9 GW Utah AI Data Center Campus

Tom's Hardware reports that the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) approved a development agreement for a hyperscale data center campus named Stratos, developed by O'Leary Digital, in Box Elder County, Utah. The article states the site would span 40,000 acres of private land plus 1,200 acres of military and state-owned property and could reach 9 GW of power consumption at full buildout, versus Utah's current average electricity use of roughly 4 GW, per Tom's Hardware. The outlet reports Phase 1 calls for about 3 GW of generation capacity, and that the campus would produce power on-site via a connection to the Ruby Pipeline interstate natural gas line. Tom's Hardware quotes MIDA executive director Paul Morris telling county commissioners that the facility "will not take one electron" from the existing grid and could feed surplus power back into it.

Per Tom's Hardware, the project is described as entirely off-grid and tied to the Ruby Pipeline, a 680-mile natural gas conduit crossing northern Utah. The published account frames on-site generation as the primary source for the campus' electrical needs and highlights the staged buildout starting with roughly 3 GW in Phase 1 and scaling toward 9 GW.

Editorial analysis: Projects of this scale, particularly those relying on dedicated natural gas supply and off-grid generation, intersect heavily with local permitting, environmental review, and interconnection rules. Observed patterns in comparable large data center proposals show protracted regulatory review cycles, community and environmental scrutiny, and negotiations over water, waste heat management, and emergency backup power arrangements.

Stakeholders and observers should track county and state permitting decisions, any environmental impact statements or emissions analyses filed, commercial terms or contracts tying gas supply to the Ruby Pipeline, and announcements from O'Leary Digital about financing or anchor customers. These indicators will clarify buildout timing, grid interaction, and operational emissions profiles.

All factual claims above are reported by Tom's Hardware in its article on the MIDA approval and the Stratos project. The quoted language is attributed in that article to MIDA executive director Paul Morris.