Oracle sent the force majeure notice to the developer of Project Jupiter, a Stargate data center campus in New Mexico, Bloomberg first reported Thursday. Force majeure clauses, common in energy and commodities contracts, excuse a party from obligations when events outside its control interfere. According to Bloomberg's sources, Oracle is not seeking to exit as the campus's main tenant; instead, the notice would allow payment delays if the facility misses its 2028 target.
Oracle maintains it does not expect a delay. "Project Jupiter remains on our planned schedule," the company said in a statement to CNBC. "We are fully committed to New Mexico and confident in our path forward."
Blue Owl Capital, whose unit received the notice, said in its own statement to CNBC that "this notice does not change the financial commitments to this multi-year project."
The notice follows a string of setbacks at the site, many tied to its energy supply. The campus, designed to handle 2.45 gigawatts, is meant to run on gas-powered fuel cells from Bloom Energy. An Energy Transfer pipeline intended to deliver gas has been delayed nearly six months, to February 1, 2027, after regulators repeatedly denied permits. In August, Bloomberg reported the pipeline's route had been changed after those rejections. A separate air-quality permit for the fuel cell system is also pending, with a November 23 deadline for the state’s environment department.
Project Jupiter is one of the flagship sites of Stargate, the AI infrastructure initiative Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank announced with President Donald Trump early in his second term. The campus has drawn opposition from residents and environmental groups and has become a political flashpoint ahead of the midterm elections. Oracle has responded with a public outreach campaign aimed at winning over critics, according to Bloomberg.