Oracle's $18B New Mexico AI Data Center Hits Power and Permitting Snags
ORCL sits 22% above its 52-week low of $114.5.
Summary
Oracle's massive New Mexico AI data-center project, Project Jupiter, is facing serious delays and financial strain. The company issued a force majeure notice to developer Stack Infrastructure, pushing back full rent payments, and has yet to secure air permits or resolve pipeline right-of-way issues. Oracle also removed a key land and power partner, BorderPlex Digital Assets. Lenders are showing unease: at least one bank sold a portion of the $18 billion construction loan below 90 cents on the dollar, implying a paper loss of at least $1.8 billion. The stock fell as much as 8% in morning trading before closing down 4%. This follows Oracle's aggressive AI build-out commitments, including a $300 billion OpenAI contract, and comes amid prior credit concerns and a $40 billion capital raise plan. The force majeure notice buys time but does not reduce Oracle's ultimate lease obligations, and the project's first phase was originally expected in Q3 2028.
At the time of this announcement, ORCL was trading at $139.88 on NYSE in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $421.9B. The 52-week trading range was $114.50 to $322.54. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.