Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon Signs Executive Order Guiding AI Data Center Development

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order titled “Data Centers the Wyoming Way” to establish a framework guiding permitting, reviewing, regulating, supporting, or facilitating large-scale data center projects across the state.

“Wyoming executive order to guide AI data center development Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order supporting AI data center development as the state seeks to attract advanced computing and technology investment”

Cointelegraph

The order directs agencies to emphasize water usage and environmental stewardship, workforce development, and protections for residential electricity customers as data centers scale up in Wyoming.

Cointelegraph

The directive is framed as a response to a broader national push on artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the White House intensifying its focus on AI capabilities and resilience.

Coverage also ties the state’s push to the scale of private capital for AI computing, saying four of the “Magnificent 7” — Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Alphabet — are expected to invest more than $650 billion on AI and data center infrastructure this year alone.

In parallel, the order is described as intersecting with Wyoming’s energy profile, including its role as a hub for Bitcoin mining and the way data centers and crypto infrastructure may coexist with local grids and policy safeguards.

While Wyoming’s executive order is described as welcoming new data centers, other Mountain West communities are taking different approaches, including Denver’s one-year moratorium on data center development.

The regional reporting says city councilors in Denver apologized for allowing a data center to be built in an already polluted neighborhood, and that other communities nationwide, from Oklahoma City to Huron County, Michigan, have also recently pressed pause on data center development.

KuCoin

Wyoming Public Media reports that Cheyenne rejected a similar moratorium and opted to move forward with potentially dozens of centers, but officials and residents still want guardrails in place.

John Burrows, energy and climate policy director at the nonprofit Wyoming Outdoor Council, said, “Our hope is that the framework that this establishes actually has some teeth to address the concerns that Wyomingites care about and are speaking up about,” and the story adds that state agencies have 60 days to provide recommendations for changes and potential legislative actions.

In southwest Wyoming near Evanston, residents packed county meetings over a Prometheus Hypescale proposal, and Bryan Ayres, the mayor of Mountain View, said, “I don't wanna see 'em unfairly subsidized with excessive tax breaks,” while also saying he welcomes new jobs if the company pays its fair share.

The “Wyoming Way” framework is described as encouraging data centers to pay the costs for increasing energy demand in the area and provide permanent jobs to Wyomingites, while also asking them to protect water and wildlife and to be transparent.

“Wyoming executive order to guide AI data center development Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has signed an executive order establishing a framework for developing data centers and advanced computing facilities, underscoring the state’s push to attract AI infrastructure investment as demand for computing power accelerates”

TradingView

The order’s scope is quoted as applying to executive branch agencies involved in permitting, reviewing, regulating, supporting, or facilitating large-scale data center development within Wyoming, with the framework emphasizing water and environmental sustainability, workforce development, and protections for residential electricity customers.

The reporting links Wyoming’s AI ambitions to its broader efforts to leverage energy resources and business-friendly policies, and it says the state has emerged as a hub for Bitcoin mining.

One account states that in 2024, CleanSpark expanded its Wyoming footprint through the acquisition of a mining facility tied to 75 megawatts of power capacity, and it lists other companies that have expanded beyond Bitcoin mining by pursuing AI and high-performance computing (HPC) services.

The same coverage says Bernstein analysts late Wednesday initiated coverage on TeraWulf and Cipher as part of their tracking of what they call “emerging AI infra,” underscoring how the state’s policy push is being watched alongside corporate investment plans.