Fermi's Texas Power Bet: $785 Million in Hand, but Governance Storm Clouds Gather

Shares in Fermi Inc. are on a wild ride this week, swinging from a 22% surge to a 12.4% plunge as investors digest a flurry of developments surrounding the company’s massive AI-infrastructure push, a leadership shake-up, and an escalating boardroom battle. The stock, which closed at €5.65 after Friday’s sell-off, remains more than 77% below its October 2025 high of €25.63, underscoring the deep uncertainty that continues to shadow the energy-focused firm.

At the heart of the gyrations is a first-quarter 2026 earnings report that painted a stark picture of a company in transition. Fermi posted a net loss of $188.7 million, or $0.30 per share. That figure landed well below the $0.05 deficit anticipated by some analysts, yet narrowly exceeded the $0.50 loss projected by others. The quarter brought in no revenue, a reflection of Fermi’s pre-commercial stage, though management points to $243 million in cash on hand at period end.

To bridge the gap between its ambitions and its balance sheet, Fermi locked down a financing package worth roughly $785 million for new equipment, with $500 million of that coming from the Japanese banking group MUFG. The capital is earmarked for the company’s Hypergrid Campus projects — a series of high-reliability power hubs designed to serve the voracious electricity needs of artificial-intelligence data centers.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Fermi?

The cornerstone of those plans remains Project Matador in the Texas Panhandle. There, Fermi has secured 2 gigawatts of generation capacity, received a clean-air permit for 6 GW, and is seeking approvals for another 5 GW. Long-term, the site could grow to 17 GW, drawing on a mix of natural gas, solar, and nuclear power — the latter backed by a pre-existing license for large-scale atomic facilities. First data centers are expected to come online by the end of 2026, and the company says it has already begun preliminary site work including gas pipelines and fencing.

To execute, Fermi is trying to stabilize its leadership after ousting CEO Toby Neugebauer. Robert Masson has taken over as interim CFO while executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles hunts for a permanent chief. The board has expanded from five to seven members and enacted new governance rules — including a 70% supermajority requirement for changes to the board’s composition. That move appears aimed at diluting the influence of Neugebauer, who through family foundations controls roughly 40% of the shares and had pushed for a sale of the company, a proposal the board rejected. A recent court ruling declined to halt a shareholder meeting on those very questions.

Under the banner of “Fermi 2.0,” management has laid out a 90-day plan focused on capital discipline and securing binding lease agreements. Evercore ISI, which downgraded the stock from “Outperform” to “In-Line” and slashed its price target from $20 to $11, described the strategy as a credible starting point but demanded visible operational progress before restoring confidence. For now, the market remains deeply divided between the promise of a sprawling Texas energy campus and the perils of a company still fighting for stability at the top.

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