Kevin O'Leary's AI data center firm disputes a harsh credibility score

Kevin O'Leary's AI data center company is pushing back on a harsh grade from Wall Street analysts. Bernstein Research gave O'Leary Digital a credibility score of 0.35 out of 5. CEO Paul Palandjian says the score cannot see land deals, water licenses, engineering work and funding that he says are already in place.

What the analysts found

Bernstein studied thousands of data center projects using data from the tracking firm Aterio. It looked at construction progress, electricity availability and industry experience. Its conclusion: only about 35% of announced US data center capacity will get built.

For O'Leary Digital, Bernstein expects 489 megawatts to be built out of a 15-gigawatt plan. That is roughly 3%. The analysts grouped the firm with ambitious newcomers they call "bragawatts."

How the company responds

Palandjian told Business Insider that scrutiny is fair. But he argued that a score built on announced capacity "ranks every pre-construction project low on construction progress by definition." He said the 15 gigawatts is the full build-out of two campuses, in Utah and Alberta, over several years. "We would rather be judged on milestones than on a model," he wrote.

Power, land and water

Getting electricity is one of the biggest hurdles for data centers. Palandjian said the company is not waiting in a grid connection line. Both campuses are designed to make all their own power on site from natural gas. The industry calls this "behind the meter."

• Utah: a 30-year development agreement names the firm master developer, with about 11,000 acres under binding agreements.
• Utah: a water application was filed in late September.
• Alberta: about 13,000 acres are under a binding agreement.
• Alberta: a water license for 6 million cubic meters a year has been granted.

What is still unclear

Palandjian said the company has money for early development and for reaching key milestones. He did not give a dollar amount or say the full build-out is financed. The claims also come from the CEO's emailed response, and some of the work he cited is confidential.

Bernstein analyst Madison Rezaei said the doubt does not mean every newcomer will fail. "We just have lower confidence because we don't know them," she said.

Why it matters

Big AI building plans may not all happen. A headline number shows ambition, not finished buildings. Anyone judging a company or an investment tied to AI should look for real milestones, such as signed land deals, approved permits and secured power.