Fermi: Hyperscaler Agreed to a $200M Prepayment for 600 MW Before a Lease; FT Says Amazon

Power is scarce enough to draw a prepayment before a lease is signed. Fermi America, a pre-revenue developer of private-grid data center campuses, says an unnamed investment-grade customer has agreed to a $200 million prepayment to advance 600 MW of capacity at its Project Matador site in Texas. The Financial Times reports the customer is Amazon. What is still missing is the lease that would turn the commitment into rent.

What Fermi disclosed#

In its third-quarter release on November 12, filed with the SEC, Fermi said it had entered into agreements with an "undisclosed investment-grade hyperscale customer" to advance an initial 600 MW of power capacity beginning in 2027. The commitments are a $200 million prepayment agreement and a $15 million early construction and site development agreement. A $90 million agreement to buy structural steel and building materials that Fermi secured in advance is still being finalised. "The parties continue to work toward a definitive long-term lease," Fermi said, and the customer's identity "remains confidential."

The same release said Fermi and TensorWave had terminated the data center lease they signed in August, along with an AMD credit support agreement tied to it. For the quarter, Fermi reported a net loss of $141.6 million, cash and restricted cash of $315.5 million and outstanding debt, net of issuance costs, of $958.4 million.

The Amazon report#

The Financial Times reported on November 13, citing people familiar with the matter, that the customer is Amazon, and described the deal as a reversal after talks between the two collapsed last December, TheFly summarised. Fermi has not confirmed the name, and Amazon's response was not in the reports we read. The FT also reported that Fermi's land lease with the Texas Tech University System requires a definitive agreement with a tenant taking at least 200 MW by December 31, according to Mugglehead's account. Fermi's shares closed 26.7% higher at $2.61 on Friday, Mugglehead reported.

The deal fits a wider scramble for ready power, from Amazon's own chief executive saying AWS capacity is "largely sold out" for 2027 to startups like Torus selling inference sited wherever spare grid power already exists.

Limits#

• The customer's identity rests on the FT's unnamed sources; we read the FT report only through TheFly, Mugglehead and Voltgrid summaries.
• Fermi's release does not say when the $200 million is paid or whether it will be credited against future rent.
• No lease has been signed, and the $90 million steel agreement is not final.
• The December 31 land-lease condition is the FT's reporting; Fermi's release says only that conditions under the land lease precede vertical construction.

Sources#

• Fermi America: Third quarter 2026 results and hyperscaler agreements, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1 (November 12, 2026)
• TheFly via TipRanks: Amazon identified as hyperscaler in deal with Fermi, FT says (November 13, 2026)
• Mugglehead: Fermi signs US$200M prepayment agreement for 600 MW Texas development (November 13, 2026)
• Voltgrid News: Fermi Project Matador: Amazon Reportedly the Customer for 600 MW, $200M (November 13, 2026)