Kevin O'Leary just agreed to downsize his massive Utah data center project by 50 percent. The Shark Tank investor sent a letter to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams saying he'll remove 19,430 acres from the plan, bringing it down from 40,000 acres to about 20,570 acres.
The project, called Project Stratos, sits in and around the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area. That location sparked concerns from residents and activists who've been putting pressure on O'Leary to scale back.
Adams had asked O'Leary to go even further, requesting a 75 percent reduction that would bring the facility down to around 10,000 acres. He also pushed for water conservation tech to be part of the plan. O'Leary met him halfway on the size but the water issue remains a sticking point.
This matters because AI data centers are becoming flashpoints in communities across the country. They promise jobs and economic growth but require enormous amounts of power and water. As AI computing demands explode, expect more of these land use battles.
The downsize is significant but 20,000 acres is still enormous for a data center. For context, that's roughly 15,000 football fields. Whether this compromise satisfies local opposition remains to be seen.
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