NextEra Energy and ExxonMobil partner to develop gigawatt-scale data center with integrated power generation for AI workloads.

NextEra Energy is partnering with Exxon Mobil, the country's largest oil company, to develop a large data center site powered by natural gas. CEO John Ketchum announced the collaboration to investors Monday, describing a 1.2 gigawatt power plant that would combine gas generation with Exxon's carbon capture technology to reduce emissions. NextEra and Exxon have secured 2,500 acres of land in the Southeast, positioned near Exxon's carbon dioxide pipeline infrastructure. The companies plan to market the site to a hyperscaler—the major tech companies building data centers for artificial intelligence training and deployment—in the first quarter of 2026, though no signed agreement with a hyperscaler currently exists. According to a person familiar with the matter, the project is a memorandum of understanding in its early stages.

NextEra, the largest renewable energy developer in the U.S., is increasingly leaning into natural gas to meet growing demand from data centers. The company plans to bring as much as 8 gigawatts of gas generation online by 2032 and is developing a pipeline of 20 gigawatts of gas generation. By 2035, NextEra plans to build 15 gigawatts of power for data center hubs, including at least three data center campuses being developed with Alphabet's Google. Ketchum characterized the company's approach as phased: "A lot of those will get started with what I call bridge power — renewables, storage. We're also at that same time planning for the gas to come behind it."

Exxon, which announced last year that it was developing natural gas solutions for data centers, declined to comment on the partnership but stated its "projects are making progress, and we appreciate our partners who add strategic value." CEO Darren Woods said in October that the company is in advanced discussions with potential customers and partners on data centers. The announcement weighed on NextEra's stock, which closed about 3% lower on Monday. Meanwhile, the broader tech sector has primarily secured renewables and increasingly nuclear power to supply data centers as companies work to meet their climate targets.