Wyoming has long been known as one of our nation’s top business-friendly states due to our corporate and personal tax policy.
But in today’s innovation revolution, tax structure alone won’t attract new companies to our state. It will require a supportive infrastructure, robust energy sources, access to venture capital, a trained workforce and collaborative public partners.
Thankfully, our leaders at the local, state and federal levels have made smart policy decisions that have laid a strong foundation to ensure Wyoming is well-positioned as an attractive state for tech companies.
Growing our footprint in AI and other emerging technologies can help transform our local economies for the long term while also setting us up for development that comes with an influx of companies and workforce.
The rapid growth of AI companies presents a unique opportunity to marry Wyoming’s abundant energy and land resources with our future growth in a burgeoning new sector.
The incredible developments America is making in AI has come with a significant uptick in demand for power. Wells Fargo is “projecting AI power demand to surge 550% by 2026,” and if America fails to meet this energy demand, our AI development could lag and easily fall behind China.
AI companies also rely on data centers — the physical locations that house the computing and tech infrastructure that supports AI’s use and development. And these data centers also require land and energy.
Wyoming has both.
According to Wyoming Energy Authority, our state is “the leading exporter of energy in the United States, exporting 15 times more energy than it consumes.”
Right now, China is pouring public investment into AI companies and energy infrastructure to become the world’s AI superpower. We have seen the news about companies such as DeepSeek that are competitive with some of America’s top AI platforms.
If China continues to innovate at the pace they’re currently moving, and we allow infrastructure challenges to hold us back, they will win the AI race.
Just imagine the economic and national security problems that could present — everything from highly sophisticated cyber hacking to accelerating economic activity in ways we haven’t even thought of yet.
We can’t let that happen. Instead, Wyoming’s energy resources should be seen as an immediate solution to solve this problem.
Eventually, AI can help us find innovative solutions to lower the strain on our energy grid, but in the meantime, we need to build the infrastructure necessary to support AI in this initial stage to get to a place where we can solve these and other complex challenges.
Further, focusing on attracting technology companies will help us change our population trajectory by helping us retain and draw young people back to the state.
The Wyoming Business Council’s annual report noted the Cowboy state has among the highest outmigration of young people in the nation. Working in partnership with our universities, we can begin to fix this by developing a pipeline of tech talent that companies can draw from to build local workforces.
It will keep the next generation of families in Wyoming while allowing us to develop the talent needed to support companies who decide to take advantage of the incredible resources and business climate we offer.
Technology has reshaped every industry, from agriculture to healthcare, creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to do more, with less.
This incredible sector is something we should be proud of and want to grow here.
Beyond creating jobs and direct investment, carving our place as a tech and AI hub on the national stage will allow our state and residents to play a significant role in helping America stay ahead of China.
Wyoming was built by pioneers who were unafraid to take risks.
We must embrace that attitude as we think about our state’s future. We have the foundational infrastructure, business climate and we embody the industrious spirit of the America, and I encourage our leaders to continue to work together to show innovation companies — and others — that Wyoming is the place to grow their business.
Matt Micheli is a Cheyenne attorney and former chair of the Wyoming Republican Party.
