Executive Summary
Wyoming is a small-budget state with an outsized AI-infrastructure story. It is the fourth-largest net energy producer in the U.S. and uses a fraction of what it generates, so Governor Gordon's 'Winning the AI Race' push is converting cheap, surplus power into a hyperscale data-center boom around Cheyenne — Meta's $800M+ campus, Microsoft's existing site plus a planned 3,620-acre expansion (3,200 acres announced April 2026, 420 more added in May), and the Tallgrass/Black Hills 'Project Tembo' campus (formerly Project Jade; Google revealed in July 2026 as the customer behind it) at 2.7GW, designed to scale toward 10GW. The state also leads the nation on digital-asset law (45+ blockchain bills since 2016, SPDI banks, DAO LLCs, and the now-live Frontier Stable Token, FRNT). For Dell, the state's own IT spend is modest and runs through Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) under A&I via NASPO ValuePoint and statewide contracts — but the data-center buildout, the University of Wyoming, and the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center are where the real AI-infrastructure and HPC opportunity sits. ETS's 2026-2028 plan is centered on governance and cybersecurity hardening rather than big new programs, so security and modernization remain the central-government angles.
- AI-infrastructure / 'AI factory' demand riding the Cheyenne data-center boom (Crusoe Project Jade, Meta, Microsoft) — PowerEdge, networking, services, and ecosystem pull-through.
- University of Wyoming and the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) as established HPC/research-computing buyers with GPU refresh cycles.
- Cybersecurity and risk-management modernization — the explicit top theme of the ETS 2026-2028 strategic plan for a lean central IT org.
- Endpoint, client, and lifecycle refresh across executive-branch agencies on a tight biennial budget where value and consolidation matter.
Dell Action Plan
- Lead with AI-infrastructure: tie Dell ISG / AI Factory offerings to the Cheyenne data-center boom (Google's Project Tembo, Meta, Microsoft, Related Digital/CoreWeave) and pursue ecosystem and supply pull-through around those campuses.
- Engage the University of Wyoming and NWSC as HPC/research-computing accounts on GPU and infrastructure refresh — but qualify NWSC's NSF transition status first.
- Position cybersecurity, consolidation, and lifecycle modernization to ETS that map directly to its 2026-2028 governance and risk-management themes for a lean central IT org.
- Validate Dell's NASPO ValuePoint and A&I statewide-contract coverage so executive-branch agencies can buy without a custom solicitation.
- Use the 'digital sovereignty on Wyoming power' narrative (Gordon's AI-race agenda, the FRNT stable token) to frame sovereign/private AI infrastructure for state and partner workloads.
Budget & Fiscal
Wyoming budgets on a two-year (biennial) cycle, with the main budget set in even-year general (budget) sessions. The 2026 budget session enacted the 2027-28 biennial budget — $9.98B total funds (~$3.4B general fund) — which Gov. Gordon signed in early March 2026 with roughly two dozen line-item vetoes (four later overridden by the Legislature); it lands about $53M below his original November 2025 request and is now the current, in-force budget (FY2027 began July 1, 2026), superseding the prior 2025-26 biennium (~$10.9B all-funds). There is no single consolidated 'state IT budget'; technology spend is distributed across agencies, and Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) sets rate structures that agencies use to build their IT ('400-series') budgets each biennium. Wyoming pursues digital transformation on a fraction of the budget larger states have — a structural reason value, consolidation, and shared services resonate. The 2025 supplemental budget did not pass, leaving some agencies strained heading into this 2027-28 cycle.
- Figures are biennial (two-year) totals; Wyoming has no single line-item 'state IT budget.'
- ETS funds much of its delivery through an internal-service rate model that agencies pay into — confirm where a given workload's dollars actually sit before forecasting.
- The 2027-28 budget is now the enacted, current biennium — $53M below Gordon's original Nov. 2025 recommendation; the Legislature restored 3/4 of his proposed $40M for the University of Wyoming immediately, with $10M more available in 2027 contingent on $5M of UW cost savings.
Initiatives & Policy
Cheyenne AI Data-Center Boom18
AcceleratingCheap, surplus power is drawing hyperscale AI capacity to the Cheyenne area: Meta's $800M+ campus, Microsoft's existing datacenters plus a planned 3,620-acre expansion (3,200 acres announced April 2026; 420 added May 2026), the Related Digital/CoreWeave $1.2B campus (up to 420MW; phase one due late 2026), and the 2.7GW 'Project Tembo' campus (formerly 'Project Jade'; designed toward 10GW). Update (July 2026): Crusoe exited construction, and planning filings revealed Google — via subsidiary Jupiter Star Holdings, LLC — as the customer behind the project, now renamed Project Tembo. Tallgrass Energy and Black Hills Energy continue as power partners on the 716-acre Switchgrass Industrial Park site; a permit hearing is set for Aug. 13, 2026, with completion targeted by 2031. Part of Gordon's 'Winning the AI Race' agenda — the strongest tailwind for Dell AI-infrastructure and ISG demand.
Winning the AI Race (Gordon agenda)8
ActiveGovernor Gordon is positioning Wyoming to convert exported energy into in-state value via AI infrastructure, courting Google, Microsoft, Meta and AWS (a closed-door Jackson summit in March 2026) while insisting developers 'do it the Wyoming way' on power, water, and community impact. The framing — digital sovereignty built on Wyoming power — aligns well with sovereign/private AI infrastructure positioning.
Wyoming Stable Token (FRNT) & Digital-Asset Leadership6
LiveWyoming has enacted 45+ digital-asset laws since 2016 (SPDI banks, DAO LLCs) and publicly launched the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT, branded WYST during development) in Jan 2026 — the first fiat-backed, fully-reserved stable token issued by a U.S. public entity, with the commission chaired by Governor Gordon. The brand makes Wyoming a national destination for blockchain/fintech compute and signals an innovation-forward government — relevant context more than a direct hardware play, but it reinforces the digital-sovereignty narrative.
NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC)19
OperatingThe NWSC in Cheyenne — an NCAR / University of Wyoming collaboration — runs the GPU-accelerated 'Derecho' system (19.87 petaflops, 382 NVIDIA A100 GPUs) for climate, wildfire, and space-weather research. An established HPC buyer with a refresh cadence. Note risk: NSF moved in Feb 2026 to transition NWSC operations (proposing a transfer toward the University of Wyoming); UCAR sued in March 2026, and on June 1, 2026 a federal judge in Denver granted a preliminary injunction blocking the transfer, finding NSF's divestment decision 'arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion' — status quo (UCAR-managed) holds while the underlying case proceeds. Qualify governance and funding before forecasting.
ETS Cybersecurity & Governance Modernization1
In progressThe ETS 2026-2028 strategic plan centers on IT governance maturation, foundational service improvement, financial stewardship, and 'enhancing cybersecurity and risk management' (asset hygiene, identity/access, incident response) rather than large new programs. For a lean central IT org, the opening is security, consolidation, and lifecycle modernization that map to these themes.
Procurement & Competition
Wyoming's central IT organization is Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), with statewide purchasing run through the A&I (Administration & Information) General Services / Procurement Section. State agencies commonly buy IT off NASPO ValuePoint cooperative contracts (which satisfy Wyoming's competitive-bid statute) and A&I 'all-agency' statewide contracts. ETS also runs its own IT network-bid process for circuits/bandwidth. There is no single DIR-style co-op; the motion is leaner and contract-driven.
| Vehicle / gate | What it means for Dell |
|---|---|
| NASPO ValuePoint | Primary cooperative path. Wyoming participating addenda (e.g., cloud solutions, IT software/hardware) satisfy competitive-bid requirements — confirm Dell/reseller coverage and current pricing. |
| A&I Statewide / All-Agency Contracts | Pre-competed statewide contracts agencies can buy from without running their own solicitation; managed by A&I General Services Purchasing. |
| ETS IT Network Bids | ETS-run competitive process for new/upgraded network circuits and bandwidth across the state. |
| Key buying entity | Role |
|---|---|
| Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) | Central executive-branch IT: governance, foundational services, cybersecurity, and the agency rate model — owns statewide tech direction. |
| A&I General Services — Purchasing | Statewide procurement authority; runs solicitations and all-agency contracts. |
| University of Wyoming / NWSC | Independent research-computing and HPC buyer (Derecho); GPU and infrastructure refresh. |
| Hyperscale data-center operators (Crusoe, Meta, Microsoft) | Private buyers driving the Cheyenne AI buildout — ecosystem and infrastructure pull-through. |
Wyoming is a lean, contract-driven market: most large IT buys flow through NASPO ValuePoint and A&I statewide contracts where incumbents already hold coverage. With a tight central budget, differentiation comes from value, consolidation, security alignment, and — above all — AI-infrastructure and HPC capability tied to the data-center boom, the university, and NWSC rather than chasing small agency price deals.
Power Structure
| Decision-maker | Why they matter |
|---|---|
| Mark Gordon8 Governor · State of Wyoming | Drives the 'Winning the AI Race' data-center agenda and chairs the Wyoming Stable Token Commission. |
| Jeff Clines3 State CIO & ETS Director · Enterprise Technology Services (A&I) | Appointed Aug 2024 (from South Dakota); focused on modernization, efficiency, and trust for a lean central IT org. Still in role as of June 2026. |
| Miguel Penaranda13 Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) · Enterprise Technology Services (A&I) | In role since Feb 2025 (previously South Dakota CISO); reports to the CIO. Primary contact for the state's cybersecurity/risk-management theme. |
| Anthony Apollo6 Executive Director · Wyoming Stable Token Commission | Leads FRNT (Frontier Stable Token), the first U.S. publicly-issued stable token — face of the state's digital-asset program. |
| Wyoming Legislature — Joint Appropriations Committee5 Appropriations & fiscal · State of Wyoming | Sets the biennial budget and ETS rate authority; the 2025 supplemental did not pass, tightening agency budgets. |
News & Signals
Sources
- Wyoming ETS — 2026-2028 Strategic Plan
- Wyoming Public Media — Cheyenne mayor welcomes 1.8GW data center
- GovTech — Wyoming CIO Jeff Clines Is Upgrading Processes and Trust
- Microsoft — Intent to expand datacenter operations in Cheyenne
- Urban Institute — Wyoming state and local expenditure overview
- Office of the Governor — Wyoming launches the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) for public purchase
- Cowboy State Daily — Gordon proposes $11.13B two-year budget
- DataCenterDynamics — Gordon on Wyoming's AI data center boom
- HPCwire — NSF transition plan for NCAR-Wyoming raises questions
- NASBO — Summaries of FY2027 Proposed Budgets (June 2026)
- Oil City News — Gov. Gordon signs order to manage Wyoming's data center growth (June 3, 2026)
- Courthouse News — Judge keeps control of supercomputer with Colorado climate lab (Mar 16, 2026)
- Wyoming ETS — Miguel Penaranda, Chief Information Security Officer
- Cowboy State Daily — Inside the $1.2B (Related Digital/CoreWeave) Cheyenne data-center campus (June 14, 2026)
- Cowboy State Daily — Partner pulling out doesn't slow 2.7GW Project Jade (June 11, 2026)
- WyoFile — Wyoming House, Senate vote to approve state budget (Mar 2, 2026)
- WyoFile — Gov. Gordon signs Wyoming's next two-year budget while vetoing two dozen items
- Cowboy State Daily — Google revealed as owner of Wyoming's largest data center, now Project Tembo (July 8, 2026)
- Colorado Sun — Federal judge blocks breakup of NCAR in Boulder (June 1, 2026)
- Cowboy State Daily — Weeks After Unveiling 3,200-Acre Data Center Expansion, Microsoft Adds Another 420
- WyoFile — Eric Barlow wins GOP nomination for Wyoming governor
- Wyoming Public Media — Lawmakers consider higher taxes for data centers
- Wyoming Tribune Eagle via Gillette News Record — Google outlines $17B Project Tembo data center campus in Laramie County