About $18 billion in loans tied to New Mexico’s Project Jupiter data-center campus are trading at 89 to 91 cents on the dollar, a sign that lenders see greater risk in the giant artificial-intelligence infrastructure project. Reuters reported the quotes from syndicate banks, citing a Financial Times account of stalled efforts to place the debt with a wider group of investors.
The pricing does not mean the loans are in default, and neither Oracle nor the lending banks publicly confirmed a restructuring. It does show that a project sold as a transformative investment for southern New Mexico now carries a measurable financing discount. Reuters said Oracle’s corporate credit rating stands one notch above junk after a July downgrade, while the banks are holding more project debt than initially planned.
Project Jupiter is an 818-acre campus in Doña Ana County intended to supply computing capacity for Oracle’s work with OpenAI. Oracle says the finished development would support more than 7,000 construction jobs and 1,500 continuing project-supported jobs, generate about $113 million in annual local economic activity once operating, and provide $360 million in direct county payments. Those figures are company projections rather than audited results.
The company also says it will finance all power infrastructure and project electricity costs, use closed-loop non-evaporative cooling, and contribute another $50 million for local water and wastewater improvements. Those commitments are central to the county’s assessment because the campus is designed to operate independently of the regional electric grid.
The credit-market pressure arrives while essential state and local reviews remain unsettled. New Mexico’s land office twice denied rights-of-way and a lease for 0.6 mile of a proposed 17-mile gas pipeline, citing greenhouse-gas emissions and pressure on water and other natural resources. The project subsequently shifted to an on-site fuel-cell plan, which Oracle says would use no water during normal operation.
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Sept. 17 rejected two environmental groups’ efforts to halt the permitting process, allowing air-quality and construction-water proceedings to resume. The brief orders did not decide whether the permits should be granted. Source New Mexico reported that the air-permit hearing still lacked a replacement hearing officer and a new schedule after the previous officer recused himself.
Doña Ana County also retains leverage over construction. An April county resolution said every phase remains subject to building-permit approval and directed officials to verify whether the project’s design had changed from what commissioners were originally told. The county specifically sought updated information on water use and closed-loop cooling.
For New Mexico, the central issue is no longer just whether Project Jupiter promises large investment. The debt discount, unresolved air review and blocked pipeline route place financing, environmental compliance and local oversight on the same timeline. The project can still advance, but its public benefits depend on permits being secured and company projections surviving regulatory and credit scrutiny.
