O'Leary's 40k-acre AI hub halved — and Utah isn't satisfied
kevin o'leary agreed to cut 20,000 acres from his utah data center project following local pressure. the downsized 'stratos project' remains larger than manhattan, signaling that local environmental opposition is becoming a major bottleneck for ai infrastructure expansion.
kevin o'leary agreed to halve the footprint of his planned 40,000-acre data center in utah after state president j. stuart adams demanded a 75% reduction to protect the great salt lake. the revised plan removes 19,430 acres and preserves land as open space, yet the site remains massive—spanning more area than manhattan. this concession reflects intensifying local resistance to the physical resource demands of ai, specifically water and land consumption, as communities push back against energy-intensive infrastructure. developers will likely face stricter environmental mitigation requirements and zoning hurdles as the race for ai compute capacity expands into rural areas.