Fermi America Tells Texas Lawmakers Project Matador Will Push the Frontier of AI Compute While Setting a New Standard for Water Stewardship

In testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, Chief Site Development Officer Charlie Hamilton details an advanced cooling and reuse strategy engineered to use roughly 80 percent less water than conventional methods.

AUSTIN, Texas, June 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Fermi Inc. (NASDAQ: FRMI) (LSE: FRMI), operating as Fermi America™ ("Fermi" or the "Company"), today underscored its commitment to responsible environmental stewardship as Chief Site Development Officer Charlie Hamilton testified before the Texas House Natural Resources Committee at an interim hearing examining data center water use and conservation. Hamilton outlined how Project Matador, the company's HyperGrid campus rising in the Texas Panhandle, is being engineered to meet the demands of the AI economy while protecting the region's most precious resource.

Speaking to lawmakers, Hamilton framed water stewardship as a personal and generational responsibility. A sixth generation Texan who grew up on a cow-calf and peanut  farm and whose family has worked the Panhandle for more than 130 years, Hamilton emphasized that Fermi America is building Project Matador with the same natural resource protections that local farmers and ranchers demand of themselves.

Pushing the Edge of What Is Possible With Cooling

At the center of Hamilton's testimony was Fermi America's four pillar Water Strategy, an approach built to conserve and reuse water at every stage of operations. The strategy maximizes dry and hybrid cooling across the entire campus, maximizes reuse through closed loop systems, matches water quality to each use, and relentlessly pursues innovative reductions in consumption.

In practice, the campus will rely on air cooled condensers and advanced hybrid cooling towers that cool primarily with air and move water through closed loop systems, an approach the company expects will use about 80 percent less water than conventional water based methods. Water is cleaned and recycled on site rather than drawn fresh and discarded. Flush water from cooling systems is captured, treated, and returned to the loop instead of being thrown away. Wastewater from sinks and restrooms is treated and reused for industrial purposes, with none of it discharged off site. Industrial tasks run on recycled, non drinking grade water kept entirely separate from drinking water, and planned systems will capture rainwater from the campus rooftops and put it back to use.

Fermi America's ambition reaches beyond efficiency. The company is aiming to become water positive, and its engineers are actively studying technologies including absorption chilling, brackish desalination, and controlled environment agriculture for future integration into the project.

Hamilton also stressed that Project Matador operates under the same water framework as every Panhandle irrigator, one acre foot of water per acre of land per year, a limit set and enforced by the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District with no special exemptions, carve outs, or waivers. In addition, Fermi America has agreed to pay the City of Amarillo twice the standard municipal water rate while building water infrastructure for the city at the company's own cost, helping fund and strengthen the city's water system rather than drawing it down.

A Core Part of Fermi 2.0 Execution

The water strategy reflects the heart of Fermi America's 2.0 execution, a disciplined commitment to push the bleeding edge of AI compute and private power grid development while maximizing value for the community and for shareholders. By investing early in innovative technologies that reduce impacts on local resources, the company aims to increase jobs, tax revenue, and critical infrastructure for Texas at the same time it advances the frontier of the AI economy.

"Project Matador is proof that you do not have to choose between leading the world in AI compute and being a good steward of the environment," said Jacobo Ortiz, Co-President of Fermi America. "Our 2.0 execution is about pushing the bleeding edge of private power and compute while maximizing value for the communities we serve and for our shareholders. We are doing the hardest engineering on the most demanding timeline, and we are doing it sustainably, because that is what responsible leadership looks like."

"I am a sixth generation Texan, and water stewardship is not an concept to me, it is who we are," said Charlie Hamilton, Chief Site Development Officer of Fermi America. "Project Matador is pushing the frontier of AI compute and private power grid development, and we are determined to do it in a way that protects every drop of the Panhandle's water. Our advanced cooling and closed loop reuse systems let us squeeze the most out of every gallon, and our goal is not just to be water efficient but to be water positive. We intend to be a responsible neighbor, a transparent partner, and a good steward of the resources entrusted to us."

Hamilton closed his testimony with a conviction that has guided Project Matador from the beginning: economic growth and responsible stewardship must go hand in hand.

Chairman Cody Harris said after hearing the testimony, "I think what you all are doing is great. It is a really good example to set for the state on how to approach this the right way." 

About Fermi America™

Fermi America™ (Nasdaq & LSE: FRMI) develops next-generation private electric grids that deliver highly redundant power at gigawatt scale to support next-generation intelligence and AI compute. Fermi America™ combines cutting-edge technology with a deep bench of proven world-class multi-disciplinary leaders with a combined 25 gigawatts of experience, to create the world's largest, up to 17 gigawatts next-gen private grid, helping ensure America's energy and AI dominance. The behind-the-meter Project Matador campus is expected to integrate the nation's biggest combined-cycle natural gas project, one of the largest clean, new nuclear power complexes in America, utility grid power, solar power, and battery energy storage, to support hyperscale AI and advanced computing. For additional information visit www.fermiamerica.com.

Media Contact

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SOURCE Fermi Inc.