O'Leary Slashes Utah AI Data Center Plan in Half After Pushback

Kevin O'Leary is dramatically scaling back his ambitious AI data center project in Utah. In a letter to the state's Senate President, O'Leary confirmed the proposed facility — originally spanning 40,000 acres — will be cut by roughly half.

For context, the original footprint would have been nearly three times the size of Manhattan. That's an absurd amount of land for a data center complex, and Utah lawmakers apparently agreed.

The backlash from state legislators forced O'Leary's hand. The revised plan still represents an enormous infrastructure play, but at roughly 20,000 acres, it's at least within the realm of something lawmakers seem willing to entertain.

The project underscores the staggering physical scale that AI infrastructure now demands — and the political friction it generates when tech ambition collides with local governance.