Former Texas governor Rick Perry’s data center startup eyes $13B IPO amid AI boom

Rick Perry’s data center company Fermi America is preparing to go public at a valuation of up to $13 billion, positioning the former Texas governor and Trump energy secretary to earn hundreds of millions from his 3% stake. The company, founded just this year, plans to build the world’s largest private electric grid and data center complex in Texas, named after President Trump and powered by nuclear, natural gas, wind, and solar energy.

What you should know: Fermi America aims to raise up to $550 million through its IPO, with shares expected to list between $18-$22 on both Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange.
• The company was cofounded by Perry, his son Griffin Perry (who owns 23% of the company), and CEO Toby Neugebauer, a former managing partner at Quantum Energy, in January 2025.
• The massive project, dubbed “Project Matador,” will span 5,200 acres near Amarillo, Texas, featuring 18 million square feet of data centers with 11 gigawatts of power generation capacity.
• Griffin Perry stands to make even more than his father, controlling more than 130 million shares or nearly 23% of Fermi’s common stock.

The big picture: The AI boom has created unprecedented demand for data centers, driving massive valuations for companies positioned to meet this infrastructure need.
• Fermi’s ambitious timeline targets full operational capacity by 2032, with up to 15 million square feet of AI-ready infrastructure planned by 2038.
• The facility is designed to be the world’s largest data center integrating nuclear, natural gas, and solar power sources.

Key partnerships: Fermi announced two letters of intent with Siemens Energy, a major industrial technology company, to secure 1.1 gigawatts of power by next year.
• The company plans to integrate Siemens’ flagship nuclear steam turbine technologies into the campus.
• Texas Tech University is collaborating on the project, with Chancellor Tedd Mitchell calling it “the world’s most impressive one-stop power and data center.”

What they’re saying: Perry frames the project as essential to America’s AI competitiveness and energy dominance.
• “No one understands the global energy race better than Donald Trump,” Perry said in a statement Thursday.
• “The Chinese are building 22 nuclear reactors today,” Perry noted in June. “We’re behind, and it’s all hands on deck.”
• CEO Neugebauer emphasized the stakes: “We understand the stakes are high and we are playing to win — because that’s how America keeps its AI edge.”

Market skepticism: Some analysts question whether Fermi’s ambitious valuation is premature given the company’s early stage.
• “AI is arguably the investment story of a lifetime, but at this stage, Fermi is still a story,” Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, told Reuters.
• “And it’ll be interesting to see how much investors will pay for it.”

Perry’s credentials: The 75-year-old brings extensive energy sector experience from his time as the longest-serving Texas governor and Trump’s energy secretary from 2017-2019.
• During his DOE tenure, he oversaw a $30 billion annual budget and led initiatives to modernize the U.S. nuclear energy sector.
• Perry was instrumental in launching programs that expanded support for nuclear innovation and LNG export infrastructure.