Project Matador: what's on paper, and what it means for Amarillo

Fifteen miles northeast of Amarillo, next to Pantex, Fermi Inc. is planning a power plant and AI data-center campus it calls Project Matador. Here's what's actually on paper, and what it means for Amarillo.

• The plan: about 11 gigawatts of mostly on-site gas and nuclear power, including four nuclear reactors in the 2030s, on Texas Tech University System land in Carson County. Fermi puts the total cost at $70 to $90 billion. Those are Fermi's own plans and estimates. Most of it isn't built.
• Amarillo's part: in October 2025 the City Council voted 4-1 to sell Fermi up to 2.5 million gallons of water a day for 20 years from the City's Carson County Well Field, at twice the in-city rate with no minimum purchase. A non-binding memorandum describes up to 10 million gallons a day.
• Taxes: Carson County abated 100% of its taxes on the campus for ten years per phase in exchange for payments in lieu of taxes. The campus is outside city limits, so the City of Amarillo collects no property tax on it.
• The deadline: Texas Tech has to issue a notice to proceed by December 31, and that requires a signed tenant lease of at least 200 megawatts. Without it, Texas Tech may end the ground lease. Fermi's first tenant lease, with TensorWave, passed its Oct. 31 closing date without its conditions met; Fermi said on Nov. 3 that it isn't yet in effect.

This series covers the water, the nuclear review you can comment on until Nov. 23, the jobs the deals actually require, and the money.

Every figure, labeled as fact, plan or company claim: amarilloledger.com/amarillo/project-matador