New York, June 11, 2026, 04:56 (EDT)
- Fermi ended Wednesday at $6.89, a 22.6% gain, and changed hands at $6.91 early Thursday before the open.
- The news comes after a report said OpenAI may lease a 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio with support from Nvidia, a headline that investors linked to Fermi’s plans for its AI campus and power needs.
- The rally is running into an ongoing proxy fight and Fermi still hasn’t secured signed tenants.
Fermi Inc. shares surged 22.6% to finish at $6.89 on Wednesday. The stock ticked up to $6.91 in early trading Thursday as traders looked for signs that big AI clients could still lock in massive, power-heavy data center contracts. The move wasn’t driven by a Fermi deal itself. Instead, OpenAI is reportedly talking to lease a 10-gigawatt data center project in Ohio, with Nvidia possibly backing it financially. That report put Fermi’s Project Matador back in play for the “power is the bottleneck” crowd. StockAnalysis
Fermi’s big issue is that it’s put together the land, permits, and equipment financing for its large Texas power-campus plan, but its most recent quarterly filing shows it still hasn’t signed tenant agreements. Basically, the company is still looking to turn that expected demand into actual binding customer contracts.
OpenAI is in talks for a 20-year lease on a site in Ohio, Reuters reported, citing The Information. The project could cost at least $500 billion, with the first phase targeted for 2028. Reuters said it couldn’t independently verify the story, and both OpenAI and Nvidia didn’t reply to requests for comment. That disclaimer matters: what’s out there on Ohio is a market signal—not booked Fermi revenue.
Citizens said in a TheFly report on TipRanks that the Ohio report is positive for the chances of a big lease at Fermi. Hyperscale AI buyers now care more about “time-to-power,” or how fast a site can be ready with electricity for compute, Citizens told investors. Citizens also pointed to Fermi’s permitted and possible 2027 powered capacity as reasons for interest, according to the same report. TipRanks
Fermi wants to build a behind-the-meter campus, keeping power supply direct to the site instead of using the usual grid. Its Project Matador, which covers over 7,500 acres in Carson County, Texas, is planned for up to 17 gigawatts at full scale from a mix of lower-carbon natural gas, advanced nuclear, solar, and battery storage. In May, the company said it lined up more than 2 gigawatts in owned and contracted supply, got a Texas permit for about 6 gigawatts of clean-air generation, and has another permit for around 5 gigawatts pending.
The company has been looking to push its infrastructure build into something that makes money. Chairman Marius Haas said in the May 14 earnings report that Fermi has “converted investor capital into more than $1.4 billion of infrastructure.” He outlined a 90-day plan, which calls for securing a binding tenant deal, focusing on liquidity, hiring a full-time CEO, seeking strategic partnerships, and delivering power to the project site. SEC
Investors are quick to react to signs of tenant demand, and Fermi’s latest balance sheet tells the story. As of March 31, the company held $243 million in total cash and restricted cash, with $421 million in outstanding debt. It secured $785 million in new equipment finance facilities in the quarter. Quarterly net loss came in at $189 million, pushed mostly by non-cash stock compensation and a debt-extinguishment loss. Fermi spent $441 million on property, plant and equipment in the quarter, lifting the gross balance to about $1.4 billion.
Governance is another catalyst. On June 10, a group led by co-founder and ex-CEO Toby Neugebauer said in an SEC filing it plans to file a definitive proxy statement and green agent-designation card. The group expects a special shareholder meeting around June 30. A proxy campaign aims to gather shareholder votes, often to shift board seats, bylaws or company direction.
Neugebauer’s camp has pushed in past proxy filings for Fermi’s board to start a strategic review, which could mean a sale or strategic partner, and compare that with Fermi’s current plan to see if deals could “de-risk Project Matador.” The shares can move on both tenant talk and board moves—news about a key customer or signs of a real strategic review can shift how the market looks at the unfinished campus.
Fermi’s board is resisting. The company’s revocation statement said an independent committee unanimously found Neugebauer’s solicitation isn’t in shareholders’ best interests. The board also warned the proposals could let one shareholder take near-total control of the company’s direction.
London regulators put out a notice June 11 disclosing new stock activity: some restricted common stock awards vested for several executives and managers, and shares were sold to cover tax bills from those awards. According to the filing, tax-related sales involved Miles Everson, Jacobo Ortiz Blanes, Charles Lynn Hamilton and Mesut Uzman or a related person.
Wednesday’s rally could be on shaky ground, since there’s still no Fermi lease in hand. The 10-Q shows the company hadn’t booked any revenue by March 31, didn’t have tenant agreements at the time of the filing, and is wrestling with debt covenants, project financing, leadership changes and missed tenant goals. The next big challenge is clear: Fermi now has to show it can land a real tenant or strategic deal — or get a transaction done — off the current AI power buzz and before June 30’s proxy fight, all before funding pressure takes over.
