Oracle Invokes Force Majeure on New Mexico AI Mega-Campus as Power Delays Jeopardize Timeline

Oracle has told the developer of one of the biggest AI data centers in America that it may not get power on time, and that Oracle should not have to pay full rent if so.

On Thursday, Oracle sent a force majeure notice to STACK Infrastructure, a Blue Owl Capital unit developing Project Jupiter. The roughly 1,400-acre campus in New Mexico is planned at about 2.45 gigawatts and is part of the capacity buildout for OpenAI's Stargate. Oracle shares fell roughly 3 to 4 percent on the news.

Not an exit, a rent fight

Oracle is not walking away. According to people familiar with the matter, it cannot terminate the lease under any circumstances. What it wants is to delay the step-up to higher lease payments if the campus misses its planned 2028 online date, stretching out the cheaper development-stage rent.

That matters because of how the deal is built. Blue Owl has about $3 billion of equity in the project, Oracle carries the debt costs, and the campus has lined up about $18 billion in bank loans. Every month of low rent shifts pain onto the landlord and its lenders.

A pipeline stuck in permits

The trouble is gas. Jupiter is designed around Bloom Energy fuel cells, and the Energy Transfer pipeline meant to feed them has slipped nearly six months, to February 1, 2027, after repeated permit denials from the New Mexico State Land Office.

An air-quality permit for the fuel-cell system is also still pending, with a state environment department deadline around November 23.

Everyone says it's fine

Oracle says Project Jupiter remains on schedule and that it is fully committed to New Mexico. Blue Owl says the notice does not change anyone's financial commitments and that the parties remain aligned.

The market heard something else. Bankers told Reuters the episode has chilled parts of the AI infrastructure financing market, which already leans on giant loans like SoftBank's $11.9 billion facility for OpenAI.

Nothing is cancelled and OpenAI has not pulled out. But the notice shows who plans to absorb the cost if the power arrives late, and it isn't Oracle.