Business13 August, 20262 min read
Fermi Appoints Lee McIntire CEO To Oversee Project Matador In Amarillo, Texas
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Lee McIntire appointed CEO of Fermi; former TerraPower executive and CH2M Hill veteran. He will oversee Project Matador AI campus construction in Amarillo, Texas.
5 outlets told this the same way.
CEO named for Matador
Fermi Inc. appointed former TerraPower executive Lee McIntire as its new Chief Executive Officer to oversee construction of its Project Matador AI campus in Amarillo, Texas, with the change effective August 11, 2026. The leadership shift follows a $6.5 billion lease deal with TensorWave announced on Monday, which Fermi said involves 222 megawatts of power capacity with an option to scale to over 650 megawatts. Fermi said McIntire replaces co-founder Toby Neugebauer, who departed earlier this year after Fermi fired him from the top job in May.
Fermi’s Chairman Marius Haas framed the transition as moving from planning to executing large, complex engineering projects on time and within budget as part of its “Fermi 2.0” strategy. The company also pointed investors to upcoming second-quarter financial results scheduled for release on August 13, 2026, as it moves from pre-revenue infrastructure spending toward revenue from tenants.
Board drama ends
TechCrunch reported that Fermi named Lee McIntire as CEO more than three months after firing co-founder Toby Neugebauer from the top executive post. The Tech Buzz described the appointment as ending a leadership vacuum that began when Fermi fired Neugebauer back in May, after a period of “more than three months of executive limbo.” Both outlets tied the CEO change to a broader push to secure clean energy for power-hungry AI data centers, with Fermi positioning Project Matador to eventually use nuclear reactors to power data centers.
Fermi’s stock reaction was linked to Monday’s TensorWave lease announcement, with TechCrunch saying the news “provided a welcome boost” and that the stock is up nearly 23% since Monday. In Fermi’s own statement, Haas said “The job now is to build on schedule, on budget, and safely,” while also emphasizing McIntire’s 40 years delivering large, complex projects and his inside knowledge from serving on the board.
What’s at stake next
Fermi America, co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, is developing the AI campus in Amarillo, Texas, called Project Matador, which is designed to use dedicated nuclear reactors to provide continuous electricity supply in the future.
Zamin.uz said the company’s “Fermi 2.0” strategy included sweeping leadership changes and a new corporate headquarters in Dallas, and it described McIntire as having extensive experience managing major infrastructure projects.
Whalesbook said investors are focused on how new leadership manages the transition from development to large-scale infrastructure delivery, noting Fermi is currently in a phase where it must spend significant amounts of money before it starts receiving the bulk of its revenue from tenants.
The TechCrunch account connected the CEO appointment and Monday’s TensorWave lease to a “welcome boost” for Fermi’s stock, with the company describing the next chapter as construction and power delivery.
With the Project Matador lease valued at approximately $6.5 billion and tied to 222 megawatts of power capacity with an option to scale to over 650 megawatts, the next test for McIntire is executing the construction and power delivery story that Haas said must be done “on schedule, on budget, and safely.”