UPDATE: Fermi quarterly and half-year loss widens as costs increase
Fermi Inc on Thursday reported a chunkier first half net loss on rising costs.
Earlier on Thursday, it announced the appointment of Lee McIntire as the company's new chief executive officer.
The Amarillo, Texas-based real estate investment trust, focused on data centres, reported a net loss of USD25.8 million for the second quarter of 2026, widened from USD6.3 million a year prior.
In the first half net loss widened to USD214.5 million from USD6.4 million year-on-year.
Fermi is not yet revenue generating.
Second quarter general and administrative expenses totalled USD26.8 million, up from USD5.6 million year-on-year.
In the first half, general and administrative expenses costs amounted to USD193.0 million, up from USD5.7 million a year prior.
The company had assets worth USD1.76 billion at June 30, up 25% compared with USD1.41 billion at December 31. Cash and equivalents stood at USD62.5 million, up 55% from USD40.3 million a year ago.
Fermi said its Matador site, a planned large-scale AI and data centre campus near Amarillo, Texas, is "now ready to shift to vertical construction". The project is designed to combine hyperscale data centre facilities with dedicated power generation, with Fermi targeting up to 17 gigawatts of capacity.
Fermi shares rose 0.3% to USD7.40 on Thursday afternoon in London.
Fermi said Thursday it has made McIntire its chief executive officer, effective from Tuesday of this week. McIntire is the "ideal executive" to lead the company into its "next chapter", it said.
The appointment follows a series of senior management changes in July, when Fermi appointed Rob Masson as chief financial officer, Jacobo Ortiz as chief operating officer, and Anna Bofa as chief commercial officer.
Toby Neugebauer, who co-founded Fermi with Rick Perry, a former Texas state governor and US energy secretary. was the previous chief executive officer of Fermi until he stepped down in April. Neugebauer was later removed from the company's board, a decision which he called "completely misguided". Fermi said it terminated the contract of Neugebauer due to conduct which violated its terms.
Chair Marius Haas on Thursday said: "Fermi's next chapter is a construction and power delivery story, and we believe Lee is the ideal executive to lead Fermi through that process.
"The job now is to build on schedule, on budget, and safely. Lee has spent 40 years delivering exactly this kind of large, complex project. He also knows Fermi from the inside, having served on our board through our latest period of growth, and he brings a reputation for integrity that Fermi's customers, employees, regulators, and neighbours can rely on."
McIntire has been an independent director on Fermi's board since September last year and brings more than 40 years of executive leadership experience in engineering, construction and global infrastructure, the company said.
Fermi's newly appointed chief executive officer began his career in the field before moving into project and executive leadership roles across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.
During his career, he worked on projects including venues for the London 2012 Olympic Games, the expansion of the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. He spent 15 years at Bechtel Corp as a partner, executive vice president and board member, before joining CH2M Hill as chief operating officer in 2006.
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