AI "ghost stories" continue! The popular data center concept stock Fermi nearly "halved in a day," with its co-founder being the former Energy Secretary of the Trump administration

On Friday, Fermi, an influencer AI energy infrastructure company co-founded by former Trump administration Energy Secretary Rick Perry, saw its stock price plummet by as much as 46% during trading, nearly "halving" in a single day.

The direct trigger for the crash was the company's disclosure that a major client would be terminating its lease: its first tenant suddenly withdrew a commitment of approximately $150 million in construction funding.

Funding "Disruption" Triggers Valuation Crash

Fermi's announcement on Friday revealed that its first tenant had terminated a funding agreement worth about $150 million, which was originally intended to support the construction of its large AI park in West Texas.

As a result of this news, Fermi's stock price experienced a sharp drop during trading, and although the closing decline narrowed somewhat, it has accumulated a 70% retracement from its peak since its listing in October.

In response to this turn of events, Fermi's management team made efforts to stabilize the situation in their announcement. The company emphasized that although the tenant refused to provide construction funding, negotiations regarding the lease terms were still ongoing and had not completely broken down.

It is worth mentioning that on the first day of its listing in October, CEO Tony Neugebauer had boldly claimed to the Financial Times that they had secured "one of the most valuable and respected technology companies on Earth" as a client.

All Buy Ratings and 38% Short Interest

In the capital markets, on one hand, all nine Wall Street investment banks covering the stock have given it a "buy" rating; on the other hand, short sellers have already amassed significant positions. Bloomberg data shows that approximately 38% of the company's floating shares have been borrowed for short selling.

Fermi's investment advisory firm, Ocean Wall, attempted to downplay the impact, with CEO Nick Lawson stating that although market sentiment was low, the logic of "power shortages" behind AI computing power remained unchanged, and Fermi was still positioned at this critical bottleneck.

Analysts from Cantor Fitzgerald also stepped in to "support" the stock, stating that the breakdown of the agreement was due to the tenant's request to change the established pricing, which Fermi refused to compromise on. Analysts believe this demonstrates "pricing discipline" and a reluctance to set a low-price precedent for future gigawatt-level capacity.

Political Aura and $50 Billion Gamble

Fermi is not only an AI concept stock but also carries a strong political color. Its co-founder, Rick Perry, previously served as the Governor of Texas and as Energy Secretary during the Trump administration.

Additionally, the company has even preliminarily named the energy center the "President Donald J Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus."

In terms of business vision, Fermi has outlined an astonishing blueprint: it plans to build the world's largest energy and data park in Amarillo, Texas. The project is expected to cost over $50 billion and includes the construction of four Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors, integrating nuclear, natural gas, and renewable energy, with a total power generation capacity of up to 11 gigawatts—this figure even exceeds the peak electricity demand of the entire country of Portugal However, Friday's sharp decline sent a warning to the market: before the grand vision is realized, any disturbance in the funding chain is enough to trigger a severe revaluation