Amazon is building a data center in Texas with an on-site natural gas power plant permitted to emit 33 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, making it potentially the largest single source of climate pollution in the U.S. The facility's emissions would exceed those of any existing U.S. power plant, driven by Amazon's need for energy-intensive AI infrastructure. This contradicts Amazon's 2040 net-zero commitment and reflects the growing tension between AI expansion and climate goals across the tech industry.
The article argues that an AI capital bubble would “pop” not because AI stops working, but because constrained supply and financing can outpace monetizable demand until scarcity turns into surplus. It points to OpenAI’s reported $300 billion commitment over five years for compute capacity via Oracle’s Stargate buildout (with the contract starting in 2027). As a result, investors and analysts should track memory and advanced packaging signals plus the lag from capital commitment to on-site productive utilization to spot when pricing and cash flow catch up and financing stops bridging the gap.
Amazon is investing in a new natural gas power plant in West Texas with 35 turbines generating 7.65 gigawatts to supply electricity to a new data center, potentially making it one of the largest single greenhouse gas emitters in the US. The plant in Pecos County received a Texas permit and would initially operate independently from the state grid, dedicated primarily to serving the data center. The development raises concerns about Amazon's carbon footprint as it scales up AI and cloud infrastructure.
Firebird launched the CIS region's largest AI factory in Armenia, equipped with NVIDIA and Dell infrastructure to enable local AI development. The facility will deploy over 70,000 NVIDIA GPUs and 300 megawatts of capacity by end of 2027, with plans to expand to 2 gigawatts globally across Armenia, Kazakhstan and other markets. The infrastructure allows Armenian developers, startups and institutions to build and run AI models locally for regional languages and priorities rather than relying solely on global services.
An 82-year-old Kentucky farmer and her daughter rejected a combined $26 million offer from an unnamed AI company to sell 534 acres of their 1,200-acre family farm for a data center development. The company offered $60,000 per acre to Huddleston and $48,000 per acre to her daughter, far above the $6,000 county average, but both refused due to concerns about environmental damage and loss of agricultural land. The project will proceed on adjacent land from other sellers who accepted offers, with over 2,000 acres rezoned and local approval granted, reflecting broader rural opposition to AI data center expansions across the country.
Chevron signed a 20-year deal with Microsoft to provide 2.67 gigawatts of natural gas-fired power for data centers in rural West Texas, launching in 2028 and ramping through 2031. Project Kilby represents the first of potentially multiple hyperscaler deals Chevron plans across gas-rich regions including the Rockies and Midwest. The project establishes Chevron as the leading oil-and-gas company positioned to serve AI infrastructure, differentiating it from competitors by combining land, natural gas resources, project management, and customer relationships.
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