By Betsey Hale, CEO, Cheyenne LEADS
Wyoming powered the last century and is ready to power the next one. The coal we mined kept the lights on across America for generations. The oil and gas pulled from this ground fueled the economy when it needed it most.
Wyoming didn’t just participate in American energy leadership. It was the foundation of it. That track record is directly relevant to the opportunity in front of this state right now.
Data centers run on power, and Wyoming has more of what they need than almost anywhere else in the country.
We have coal. We have natural gas. We have transmission infrastructure built over decades to move energy at scale. But we don’t use most of it.
More than 60 percent of the power generated in Wyoming is exported to other states. Growing a new industry that needs our valuable resources allows Wyoming to turn its natural strengths into jobs, revenue and long-term growth at home.
Just as important, large data centers are required to pay for the generation and grid upgrades they need, helping protect households and small businesses from those costs.
The Cowboy State also brings something many competing markets do not: a workforce that has spent careers working in and around power systems.
These are the kinds of technically capable, industrially experienced people that data center operators need and struggle to find in markets that are competing for the same investment.
Cheyenne and Laramie County sit at the center of that advantage. We have the land, the power access, the fiber connectivity, and the logistical position along the I-25 corridor that site selectors are actively looking for.
Wyoming doesn’t need to build this case from scratch. The fundamentals are already here.
The national stakes matter too. The United States and China are competing directly over who controls the digital infrastructure of the next century.
Artificial intelligence, financial networks, military communications, and cloud computing all depend on physical data centers built on American soil. China has made this a state priority, directing enormous resources toward expanding its own digital capacity.
America’s answer depends on states with the energy and the workforce to host this infrastructure. Wyoming has both, and Cheyenne LEADS has spent decades making sure the region is positioned to prove it.
Every data center built in Wyoming is computing capacity under American control, powered by Wyoming energy, built and operated by Wyoming workers. Every project that goes to Colorado or Utah because the policy environment wasn’t right, or because we weren’t aggressive enough in making our case, is an opportunity that doesn't come back.
The local economic case is straightforward. A large-scale data center development means years of construction employment for the skilled tradespeople who built Wyoming’s energy infrastructure. The permanent positions that follow are stable, technical, and well-compensated.
For example, a computer operations employee can make an average of $154,000 annually while a business operations specialist averages $125,000 per year.
These are the kinds of careers that give younger Wyomingites a reason to stay rather than leave for Denver or Salt Lake.
Property tax revenue flows to Laramie County and to local school districts for as long as the facility operates. In fact, from 2010 to 2024, the average annual impact lands at about $481 million.
That’s not just one-time construction money; it reflects recurring economic value.
Further, these are not industries that leave when commodity prices drop. Data centers are anchored to their infrastructure and built for the long term.
That durability is worth something to a state that knows what boom and bust feels like.
The energy economy Wyoming built is not a legacy to be managed down. It is the foundation for what comes next.
The digital economy needs power. Wyoming has it. The question is whether we are going to compete hard enough to make sure the investment lands here rather than somewhere else.
Betsey Hale is the CEO of Cheyenne LEADS.
