Fermi jumps as AMD agrees to back TensorWave's lease at its Texas AI campus

Fermi (FRMI) shares rose sharply on October 13 after the company said AMD had signed a credit support agreement for TensorWave's lease at Project Matador, Fermi's AI data center campus in Carson County, Texas. The gain was 13.2% before the open and about 16% by late morning; Barron's headlined a 20% jump, but no verified close was available at the time of writing.

The agreement does not put AMD money into the project. AMD is guaranteeing the obligations of TensorWave, an AI cloud provider and the first tenant, on a 222 MW lease for phase one that is worth about $6.5 billion over an initial 15-year term. The lease was first announced on August 10, and its closing was extended to October 31 pending this guaranty. AMD's Mathew Hein called the arrangement an important step, and the terms of AMD's support were not disclosed.

Fermi described the deal as a key milestone toward securing project financing, which is still to come. Evercore, which covers the stock, called the credit support a constructive step but not final funding, and noted that later phases need more tenants. A framework for phases two and three covers up to 650 MW but still needs binding leases.

The rally comes after a punishing year: the stock had fallen 89% over the prior twelve months. The next checkpoints are the lease closing by October 31, third-quarter results on November 12 and, most important for the thesis, a project financing package for a company that says it has already invested more than $1.5 billion in the site.