There is one thing the AI buildout cannot scale without.
Not chips. Not capital. Not data.
POWER.
ERCOT just told Texas lawmakers that AI-driven peak demand could quadruple by 2032. Utility interconnection queues are five-year backlogs. Hyperscalers need firm redundant power years before any utility can deliver it.
There is exactly one publicly traded company sitting on 7,500 acres in Texas with a 6 GW Clean Air Permit (the second-largest of its kind in U.S. history), $1.4B of installed infrastructure, $785M of fresh financing, and a permitting path for 4.4 GW of advanced nuclear on top.
It should be trading at a premium.
Instead, seven months after its $21 IPO, the stock is down 73%.
Because here's what the market saw in the last six months:
- Tenant: gone.
- Earnings: missed.
- CEO: fired for cause.
- Founder: suing the company.
It makes sense why investors ditched this stock post-IPO. But there are some huge reasons to get back in.
- The assets at this company actually GREW by $441M during the same quarter the stock collapsed.
- The new institutional team that just took over is the most all-star roster I've seen step into a turnaround in years.
- A public-market peer just ran this exact playbook and returned 736% in twelve months.
The ticker is FRMI. Here's the full thesis.
What FRMI Actually Is
Fermi Inc. (FRMI) is building the largest private power grid in America.
The flagship asset is Project Matador. 7,500 acres in the Texas Panhandle on a 99-year ground lease with Texas Tech. At full build-out, the campus is designed to deliver up to 17 GW of integrated power: combined-cycle natural gas, advanced nuclear (Westinghouse AP1000), solar, and battery storage. Up to 15 million square feet of AI-ready powered shells colocated on top.
The business model is simple. Rent indexed to GW of reserved power. Per management, a SINGLE signed gigawatt = roughly $1B in annual NOI.
The setup we hit in the hook is the entire reason this company exists. Here's how Chairman Marius Haas framed it on this morning's earnings call:
>
Fermi builds a private grid behind-the-meter, sticks AI-ready powered shells on top, and leases the whole thing out by the gigawatt. Months to energize, not years. Haas's own words: Fermi was "purpose-built to relieve that constraint."
So Why Is The Stock at $5?
Three credibility hits in five months.
October 2025: IPO at $21. Stock rips to $36.99 within weeks. Bullish.
December: The only disclosed anchor tenant terminates their $150M Advance in Aid of Construction Agreement. Stock drops 33% in a single session.
March: Q4 earnings confirm no signed cornerstone tenant. Strategy pivot from single-anchor to multi-tenant mid-call. $486M FY25 GAAP loss. Class-action lawsuit follows.
April: The Board fires the founder/CEO Toby Neugebauer FOR CAUSE. The CFO transitions out (he's now back on the Board). Neugebauer, who controls roughly 40% of the float with affiliates, immediately sues the company for wrongful termination and publicly demands a sale.
That's the headline reel. Stock cratered from $36.99 to $5.72. 73% off IPO. 85% off highs.
That's the bear case. It’s real, it’s ugly, and it’s well-documented. But everything has completely changed the last couple of months. I’ll tie this back in later on when we talk about the new management and their 90-day plan to secure a hyperscaler tenant.
READ that AGAIN. They have a 90-day plan to secure a hyperscaler tenant. The clock is ticking.
Here's Something that Nobody Talks About: APLD Already Ran This Playbook
Applied Digital (APLD) is the proof.
If you haven't been paying attention to APLD, here's the short version: the stock is up 736% in the past twelve months. Market cap is north of $13B, and the market now treats it as a contracted-revenue infrastructure bet.
Here's the part that matters for FRMI: 18 months ago, APLD looked EXACTLY like FRMI looks today. Heavy capex story. No signed hyperscaler tenant. Bal