{"id":19760,"date":"2026-05-07T00:37:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/kevin-olearys-utah-ai-campus-gets-approved\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:37:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:37:59","slug":"kevin-olearys-utah-ai-campus-gets-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/kevin-olearys-utah-ai-campus-gets-approved\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin O&#8217;Leary&#8217;s Utah AI campus gets approved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/app\/uploads\/2023\/11\/crypto-news-China-CBDC-option05.webp\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Box Elder County commissioners approved Kevin O\u2019Leary\u2019s 9GW Stratos AI campus in Utah on May 4, amid loud public protests from hundreds of local residents.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_2bc1013817e5b3e8070699520902f41d\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<p>\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kevin O\u2019Leary\u2019s Stratos project, a 40,000-acre AI campus in Utah, received county approval on May 4 despite strong community opposition over water, energy, and environmental concerns.<\/li>\n<li>The campus will generate up to 9 gigawatts at full buildout, more than twice Utah\u2019s current total electricity consumption, powered by an on-site natural gas pipeline.<\/li>\n<li>O\u2019Leary framed the project as a direct response to China building 400 gigawatts of AI-capable power over the past two years, calling it a national security priority.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Box Elder County commissioners in Utah voted unanimously on May 4 to approve the Stratos AI campus backed by Kevin O\u2019Leary Digital, the infrastructure arm of O\u2019Leary Ventures. <\/p>\n<p>The approval came over the objections of hundreds of residents who chanted \u201cShame!\u201d as the vote was announced and who said they had been given too little time to raise concerns before the decision.<\/p>\n<p>The campus, designated through Utah\u2019s Military Installation Development Authority, spans more than 40,000 acres and will reach 9 gigawatts of generation capacity at full buildout. <\/p>\n<p>Phase one calls for approximately 3 gigawatts. Kevin O\u2019Leary <a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/bitcoin-crash-risk-kevin-oleary-flags-quantum-fears\/\">told<\/a> Fox Business the site will be powered entirely by an on-site connection to the Ruby Pipeline, a 680-mile natural gas line crossing northern Utah, rather than drawing from the state grid.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China as the stated rationale<\/h2>\n<p>O\u2019Leary made the competition framing explicit. \u201cChina built 400 gigawatts of new power over the last 24 months, and much of it is powering AI data centers,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/cryptos-new-era-kevin-oleary-champions-trumps-vision-but-skeptics-remain\/\">said<\/a>, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. \u201cWe\u2019re in a race with them.\u201d He described the project as providing compute power for US AI companies and national defense.<\/p>\n<p>Utah\u2019s MIDA cut Stratos\u2019s energy use tax from 6% to 0.5% and agreed to rebate 80% of property tax revenue to attract the project. Environmental critics raised concerns about water use near the already-depleted Great Salt Lake and potential weather pattern changes. <\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary said the facility would use closed-loop water recycling and air-liquid cooling. No hyperscale tenant has been publicly named. Initial delivery is expected in Q4 2026, with full buildout spanning approximately ten years across multiple phases.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/kevin-oleary-utah-ai-campus-gets-approved\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Box Elder County commissioners approved Kevin O\u2019Leary\u2019s 9GW Stratos AI campus in Utah on May 4, amid loud public protests from hundreds of local residents. Summary Kevin O\u2019Leary\u2019s Stratos project, a 40,000-acre AI campus in Utah, received county approval on May 4 despite strong community opposition over water, energy, and environmental concerns. The campus will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":19761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"kronos_expire_date":[],"class_list":["post-19760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19760"},{"taxonomy":"kronos_expire_date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kronos_expire_date?post=19760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}