Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary says he believes half of planned data center projects in the US will fail because of a lack of power.

O’Leary, known as Mr Wonderful on the show, is a property investor and long-time backer of cryptomining and HPC data center operator Bitzero.

He told DCD that constraints on the power grid in the US mean many of the large projects announced by developers will never get off the ground.

“The market has changed so much,” O’Leary said. “I’m involved in investing in many different jurisdictions around building data centers, and I’ve had a chance to meet with many state governors in the US and Canada.

“When you go and look at opportunities in the US, I would say 50 percent or more of the data centers that have been announced in the US won’t be built because there is no power on the grid.

“People are talking about putting 1.4GW for AI compute, but it just doesn’t exist anywhere in the US or Canada.”

O’Leary has been invested in Bitzero since the beginning. The Vancouver-based company operates data centers around the world, and claims to select locations based on their cool climate so as to cut the carbon footprint of its servers.

Its Norway 1 facility, in Namsskogan, Norway, offers 40MW capacity across 14,000 cryptomining rigs. Bitzero says this is currently being expanded to 110MW. It has also leased a 5MW site in nearby Røyrvik, known as Norway 2.

In Finland, Bitzero is operating out of a facility in Kokemäki, which offers 10MW. This week, it broke ground on a 100-acre expansion of the site, which could eventually take its capacity up to 1GW.

In North Dakota, US, the company purchased a former missile base, the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex at Nekoma, commonly known as “The Pyramid,” in 2022, and now runs a 2.5MW data center on the site, with 30MW of capacity “prepped for rapid deployment.” The 184-acre site could eventually offer up to 300MW.

Bitzero listed on the Canadian stock exchange last month, a move it hopes will give it access to extra capital to further expand its network.

O’Leary argues that the fact Bitzero has low-carbon, affordable, power contracts in place for its sites means its offer is a compelling one.

He said: “The value of what Bitzero has risen dramatically, and I think over time the market will recognize that. What it has is sub-six cents per kWh power, with land, permits, and water, which is something that’s incredibly hard to find anywhere in the world.”