Shares of a data center and power company backed by former Energy Secretary Rick Perry closed up more than 50 percent in their first day of public trading as investors continued to ride a wave of AI enthusiasm.
Texas-based Fermi America began trading on the Nasdaq exchange Wednesday after an initial public offering raised $682.5 million. Shares were sold at $21 to start the day but were selling at more than $32 at closing. That gives the company a market value of more than $19 billion.
The company has ambitious plans to build out one of the world’s largest data center and energy complexes on more than 5,000 acres near Amarillo, Texas. Plans filed with federal regulators envision a complex of nuclear power, gas generation and renewables that will eventually total 11 gigawatts of power, an amount on the scale of Manhattan’s daily use.
The “HyperGrid” campus would support millions of square feet of data center capacity. Fermi has said that it has a nonbinding letter of intent with its first tenant but has not publicly named any customers.
