Prometheus Hyperscale has been coy about who is shopping for space at its flagship, 1.2-gigawatt data center near Evanston, saying only that the companies it has been talking to are household names anyone would recognize.
Now, however, some clues are bubbling to the surface, and it looks like the company could be looking to attract either Meta or Microsoft.
Uinta County Commissioners have just approved two letters of support for Prometheus Hyperscale, one of which will be sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the other of which is headed to Microsoft Vice President of Cloud Operations and Innovation Noelle Walsh.
The letters were written and signed at the request of Prometheus Hyperscale, with county officials saying the company is hoping to show their project has local support.
Uinta Needs To Diversify
Uinta County Economic Development Director Gary Welling told Cowboy State Daily a data center wasn’t something the county actively sought out but, if realized, is something he believes will be an exciting project for southwest Wyoming.
“We are excited to have technology come to this part of the state,” he said. “Oil and gas is kind of going by the wayside, right now anyway, and to diversify our county we need to look elsewhere.”
Uinta County Commission Chair Mark Anderson, meanwhile, said Uinta County was happy to show support for the project as it’s working to line up clients for the proposed business venture.
“My optimism with a project like this is for some more good-paying jobs,” Anderson said. “We have to look at diversifying our economy as we see more and more the mineral exodus from the state, whether it be the war on coal or oil and gas leaving the region.”
If Prometheus Hyperscale’s clients do turn out to be Microsoft or Meta either one, that would be “something,” Anderson added.
“I think they’re still, in my opinion, a long way out from seeing something come to fruition,” he said. “But that’s my own opinion. It will be interesting to see if something ends up happening out there or not.
"It’s proposed on private land, so I’m sure there’s some economic benefit to the landowner and things. Obviously, if we had some jobs, some more good-paying jobs close to Evanston, Uinta County would benefit from that, so I’m excited to maybe see something there happen.”
Large Size, Abundant Energy
Prometheus Hyperscale President Trevor Neilson told Cowboy State Daily he couldn’t comment about any specific companies.
“But I can say that we are in deep discussions with multiple parties who are drawn to the site’s large size, abundant energy and supportive local community,” he said.
The two letters Uinta County is sending to Microsoft and Meta each tout the county’s “long and proud history” of supporting large-scale energy, infrastructure, and industrial development projects.
“We view this project as a natural extension of that legacy — one that builds on our skilled workforce strategic location, and energy resources while positioning our community to participate meaningfully in the future of advanced computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure,” the letter states.
It goes on to highlight the potential economic benefits from the data center, including high-paying jobs, workforce development opportunities, and a durable long-term investment.
“The Board of County Commissioners are prepared to support efforts however needed,” the letter goes on to say. “Whether that involves coordinating with local and state stakeholders, exploring workforce and training opportunities, connections with community leaders, or supplying local data and context to strengthen planning and implementation.”
Jobs Estimate
Welling told Cowboy State Daily he believes the data center would initially have between 300 to 400 jobs, as well as between 1,500 to 2,000 construction jobs.
While data centers don’t typically have high numbers of employees for the square footage involved, Welling said the company has discussed having associated businesses such as a greenhouse. He believes that contributes to the company’s projections.
Prometheus Hyperscale has told Cowboy State Daily in previous interviews that its two data centers, one in Casper and one in Evanston, will generate 5,000 jobs in all, based on an economic impact study the company commissioned from University of Wyoming.
That figure includes both direct and indirect jobs and is a total for both facilities.
Prometheus is working to create a training pipeline, meanwhile, so that it can hire more people from Wyoming for the jobs it intends to create in the Cowboy State, and told Cowboy State Daily it will develop community benefit agreements in each of the locations where it builds.
A $700B Capex Pie
Meta and Microsoft, along with Alphabet, Amazon, Google, and Oracle have all announced multibillion budgets for 2026 to build out Artificial Intelligence infrastructure and claim a dominant place in the sector.
Meta has announced $135 billion in capital expenditure while Microsoft has proposed a spend of between $145 to $150 billion.
Amazon adds $200 billion to the pot, while Alphabet plans to spend between $175 to $185 billion and Oracle $42 billion.
The total buildout for just those companies alone is an eye-popping $700 billion in capital expenditures.
If realized, that would amount to 2.1% of GDP, if all of the money is spent in the United States. It was not clear from earnings call statements where the money would be spent.
This represents a huge economic stimulus for any place that succeeds in gaining a slice of that pie, and there are many communities across the nation stepping up to get their share if they can.
That includes Wyoming, which has already had several multibillion-announcements involving data centers of late.
Prometheus has announced two data centers in Wyoming, the 1.2-gigawatt facility in Evanston and a second, larger 1.5-gigawatt facility near Casper. It’s also working on some data centers in Texas and has plans for data centers in other states like Arizona.
Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, Texas-based Crusoe Energy and Tallgrass Energy are teaming up to build a 2.7-gigawatt data center called Project Jade, which will use almost three times the energy of the entire state.
Related Digital and CoreWeave broke ground on a relatively small 302-megawatt facility at Campstool Business Park in Cheyenne.
Meta and Microsoft both plan projects in Cheyenne, too.
Meta has announced a 715,000-square-foot data center on a 945-acre site in the High Plains Business Park that is already under construction, and Microsoft, which has been in Wyoming since 2012, plans two new data centers, one at Cheyenne Business Parkway and one at Bison Business Park.
What About Water, Energy?
All the data centers that have so far announced new projects in Wyoming have faced criticism and pushback over both water and energy.
Everyone is afraid they will gobble up both resources.
The companies, facing that criticism, have all said they plan water frugal designs, and that they won’t necessarily be trying to crowd onto the public power grid.
Prometheus, as well as Project Jade, have both said they will build out their own power generation using natural gas, while Relevant Digital has said they will pay a tariff that ensures 100% of the cost attributable to their 350-megawatt center will be paid by them.
Prometheus, Project Jade, and Relevant Digital have also outlined plans to recycle water for cooling their data centers, water they say will be taken from far below the drinking water table.
Microsoft, meanwhile, in materials at its website about the project said its new data centers will be cooled using outside air instead of water any time temperatures are below 85 degrees Fahrenheit. That not only uses less electricity but also uses 90% less water.
Called “adiabatic cooling,” the approach relies on evaporation rather than mechanical air conditioning.
Meta has told Cheyenne city officials that it, too, plans to recycle water and that its facility won’t use any more water than a typical office building of the same size.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
