The hyperscale high-performance “computing as a service” providers (AWS, Azure, Google, Meta) mostly purchase renewable energy and report high market-based renewable energy percentages, and also use local power grid suppliers that rely on a high share of natural-gas generation (especially in Texas and Northern Virginia).
Company / AI factory | Company claim (market-based renewables) | Major data-center regions (grid natural-gas share) | Degree of access to natural gas (High / Medium / Low) | Sources |
Amazon / AWS | 100% of electricity consumed matched with renewable energy (2023–2024, market-based). (Amazon Sustainability) | Heavy footprint in Northern Virginia (PJM/VA — VA generation >50% gas) and Texas (ERCOT — large gas share). US grids overall ~40% gas. (U.S. Energy Information Administration) | High | AWS has major capacity in gas-heavy US grids (Northern VA, TX). Although AWS reports “100% matched” renewables market-wide, the local grid supply for many AI clusters is still gas-dominated, so AWS has strong practical access to gas power for fast capacity scaling. (Amazon Sustainability) |
Microsoft / Azure (incl. Azure OpenAI / OpenAI workloads on Azure) | Microsoft reports procuring enough renewables to match 100% of global electricity consumption (market-based). (Microsoft CDN) | Large Azure presence in Northern Virginia, Texas, and other US regions (many gas-heavy grids). US/TX/VA grid gas shares high (see EIA). (U.S. Energy Information Administration) | High | Microsoft powers OpenAI workloads on Azure; Azure’s major data-center regions overlap with gas-heavy grids (so operational access to gas is high despite market-based renewable matching). (The Official Microsoft Blog) |
Meta (Facebook / Meta AI data centers) | Meta reports matching much (or all) owned/operated data-center electricity with renewables in its accounting (market-based) while expanding new local projects. (Meta Sustainability) | Big builds in Texas (Coleman County and other TX sites) and Northern Virginia; TX and VA grids have large natural-gas shares. (pv magazine USA) | High | Meta is rapidly expanding AI capacity in TX/VA — both regions with heavy natural-gas generation — so operational access to gas generation is high even as Meta signs renewables locally/contractually. (pv magazine USA) |
Google / Google Cloud | Google reports having matched 100% of annual electricity consumption with renewables for years (market-based) and publishes regional hourly carbon-free percentages. (blog.google) | Google’s footprint includes Midlothian, TX (gas-heavy) but also WA/OR (hydro), and other lower-gas grids — a more geographically mixed footprint. (RTO Insider) | Medium | Because Google’s data centers are more geographically diverse (some gas-heavy, some hydro/low-gas), its practical access to gas is medium overall. It also reports regional CFE (carbon-free energy) metrics to show hourly variation. (blog.google) |
Oracle Cloud | Oracle claims high renewable coverage in some disclosures (Oracle reports strong renewable procurement claims). (Oracle) | Oracle’s cloud footprint is smaller than hyperscalers and more concentrated in commercial colocation markets (regional mixes vary). Many U.S. colo grids include substantial gas. (Oracle Blogs) | Medium–Low | Oracle’s absolute compute footprint is smaller and it emphasizes renewable procurement; depending on region, local grid gas exposure varies — overall less direct exposure than the largest hyperscalers. (Oracle) |
AI firms that rent cloud capacity (OpenAI, Anthropic, Stability, etc.) | OpenAI: uses Azure (Microsoft) for most workloads; Anthropic & others use mixtures of Google Cloud / Azure / AWS (multi-cloud). (The Official Microsoft Blog) | Their practical gas access ≈ the cloud provider(s) they run on. If on Azure/AWS/Google in TX/VA, access is High/Medium as above. (The Official Microsoft Blog) | Varies (follows provider) | These AI model operators rarely own global data centers; they rely on hyperscalers. So their degree of access to gas ≈ the hosting cloud’s regional grid exposure. OpenAI on Azure → High by the table above. Anthropic’s deals (Google/Azure) mean varied exposure. (The Official Microsoft Blog) |
The “neo cloud” providers tend to have medium to high levels of access to natural gas for power, though the emphasis on “renewable” sources might not be as high a priority.
Sites like CoreWeave’s Project Horizon and Galaxy/Helios (West Texas) are virtually designed around proximity to natural-gas infrastructure. For frontier-scale AI (multi-hundreds of megawatts to gigawatt scale), this gives them very-high access to gas-powered electricity.
TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner (NY) is a contrasting model: using mostly low-carbon grid supply (hydro/nuclear/clean energy) that is better for carbon-intensity, with lower reliance on gas.
Hut 8 has a mixed strategy: some sites (Canada) on cleaner grids, some (Texas, Panhandle) on gas-heavy or mixed grids, giving it a balanced, diversified exposure depending on where its compute load is run.
Riot Platforms (Rockdale / Corsicana) are among the most gas-exposed of publicly traded neo-cloud specialist compute providers.
Company | Major sites / where compute is (or is planned to be) sited | Dominant local power sources / relevant company energy plans | Degree of access to natural gas power (High / Medium / Low) | Why / notes & primary sources |
CoreWeave | Rapid expansion into West Texas / Permian projects (Project Horizon / Poolside JV), plus European builds (UK, Spain) and colo deals. | West Texas projects explicitly target locations with access to low-cost natural gas (Permian/Delaware basin) while some EU/UK sites emphasize renewable-backed supply. Net: strong access to local natural gas where it matters for large-scale AI campuses. | High | CoreWeave is anchoring large West Texas campuses that are being designed around low-cost gas-rich markets (Permian Basin/Project Horizon) while also deploying renewables-backed facilities in Europe. This gives CoreWeave high practical access to gas power for large-scale, fast-growing AI capacity. (Barron's) |
Hut 8 Corp. | Mixed footprint: multiple Canadian colo/HPC sites (Vancouver, Kelowna, Mississauga/Vaughan), mining campuses (Alberta, Medicine Hat), and a growing U.S. development pipeline (planned US sites, Louisiana/Baton Rouge acquisitions announced). | Canada: strong hydro in some provinces (Quebec/BC/ON) → low gas; Alberta sites and some U.S. development pipeline → higher fossil/gas exposure. Company runs both renewables/hydro-backed sites and gas-exposed mining/power projects. | Medium | Hut 8’s compute estate is geographically mixed: many Canadian colo/HPC sites sit on low-carbon hydro grids, but Hut 8 also owns/operates power-first mining/data campuses in Alberta/other U.S. projects that expose it to gas/thermal generation. Net = medium. (Hut 8 HPC) |
TeraWulf (TeraWulf Inc.) | Lake Mariner campus (Somerset/Buffalo, NY) — large hydro/low-carbon facility; Nautilus in Pennsylvania; plus announced / planned large campus development in Abernathy, Texas (joint venture with Fluidstack / Google backing). | Lake Mariner: predominantly hydro / low-carbon (NY grid + hydropower). Abernathy (TX) project would sit in gas-heavy Texas grids. Company messaging emphasizes “sustainably powered” HPC but also expansion into Texas. | Medium | TeraWulf’s core existing operations (Lake Mariner) are strongly low-carbon/hydro-aligned → low local gas exposure today. But an explicit expansion into Abernathy, Texas (large planned capacity) points to future higher gas exposure at those sites. Overall practical access = Medium (mixed existing low-gas + planned gas-region capacity). (Data Center Map) |
MARA / Marathon Digital (MARA Holdings) | Large portfolio: Garden City, Granbury, McCamey (TX), multiple West Texas / Delaware Basin projects, plus international sites. Company explicitly pursuing integrated power + data center builds in West Texas (MPLX partnership). | Mix today: some wind/hydro-adjacent sites (Garden City adjacent to wind), BUT public plans to build gas-fired generation facilities in West Texas (MPLX partnership) — initial ~400 MW with potential to scale to 1.5 GW using natural gas from Delaware Basin. | High (increasing) | Marathon/MARA has both renewables-adjacent assets (e.g., Garden City wind) and explicit, recent plans/partnerships to build gas-fired generation co-located with data centers in West Texas (MPLX deal). That makes MARA’s practical access to natural gas high and rising as gas-gen projects come online. (Mara) |
Riot Platforms (Riot) | Large Texas footprint (Rockdale, Corsicana) plus Kentucky facility — Rockdale is one of North America’s largest mining campuses. | Texas grids (ERCOT/North Texas) have very high shares of natural-gas generation at times; Riot’s large Texas facilities operate in gas-dominated grids and have been criticized for high fossil generation intensity. Riot’s filings list Texas facilities as core. | High | Riot’s major capacity (Rockdale, Corsicana) sits in Texas, a grid and market with large natural-gas generation share — giving Riot high practical access to gas-fired electricity for large scale compute/mining workloads. (Riot Platforms) |
Of course, companies operating multiple sites will have some sites using more or less natural gas, depending on what other sources are available (hydro, for example).
Company | Site | City | State | Natural Gas Access | Source |
CoreWeave | Project Horizon (Longfellow Ranch) | Pecos County | TX | High | |
CoreWeave | Helios (Galaxy) - Dickens County | Afton/Dickens County | TX | High | https://investor.galaxy.com/news/; https://www.datacentermap.com/usa/texas/dickens/helios-data-center/ |
CoreWeave | Livingston / NJ operations (representative) | Livingston | NJ | Medium | |
TeraWulf | Lake Mariner | Barker (Lake Mariner) | NY | Low/Medium | https://www.terawulf.com/lake-mariner-mining/; https://www.gem.wiki/Lake_Mariner_facility |
TeraWulf | Nautilus (Pennsylvania) | Pittsburgh area (Nautilus) | PA | Medium | |
Hut 8 | King Mountain / McCamey (JV) | McCamey | TX | Medium | |
Hut 8 | Vega / Texas-Panhandle (planned) | Vega | TX | Medium | https://hut8.com/news-insights/press-releases/hut-8-announces-plans-to-develop-four-new-sites |
Marathon (MARA) | Garden City | Garden City | TX | Medium/High | |
Marathon (MARA) | McCamey / West Texas projects | McCamey | TX | High | |
Riot Platforms | Rockdale | Rockdale | TX | High | |
Riot Platforms | Corsicana | Corsicana | TX | High | |
Core Scientific | Dalton (GA) | Dalton | GA | Medium | |
Core Scientific | Grand Forks (ND) | Grand Forks | ND | Low/Medium | |
Core Scientific | Muskogee (OK) | Muskogee | OK | Medium/High | |
Compute North (historical) | Big Spring (TX) | Big Spring | TX | High | https://dgtlinfra.com/compute-north-chapter-11-bankruptcy-filing/; historical filings |
Compute North | North Sioux City (SD) | North Sioux City | SD | Medium | https://dgtlinfra.com/compute-north-chapter-11-bankruptcy-filing/ |
Compute North | Kearney (NE) | Kearney | NE | Medium | https://dgtlinfra.com/compute-north-chapter-11-bankruptcy-filing/ |
TerraWulf (Beowulf/TeraWulf) | Lake Mariner (alternate coord) | Barker/Buffalo area | NY | Low/Medium | |
TeraWulf | Nautilus (PA) | Pittsburgh area | PA | Medium | |
Greenidge | Dresden (Finger Lakes) | Dresden | NY | Low/Medium | |
CoreWeave | Midlothian / Dallas area (representative) | Midlothian | TX | High | news coverage of cloud builds in Midlothian/Dallas area |
Marathon (MARA) | Granbury (Wolf Hollow / Granbury) | Granbury | TX | High | Compute North and Marathon filings; company press releases |
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