Breaking News: O’Leary states that ND is ‘on the catbird seat’ of two trends relating to investment

Publication: The Flag

Author: Chris Larson

Date: April 20, 2025

Listen to the original article HERE

The first is data centers.

“Data centers (are) all about AI development,” he said. “We can’t develop AI without a data center.”

O’Leary said North Dakota has several things that would make the data centers happen. North Dakota’s climate, the people in the state, fiber to connect the data center and land are all available in the state.

The other item needed is a turbine.

But what North Dakota has that others are eyeing is stranded natural gas.

“That’s what they’re looking at,” O’Leary said. “There are only three places in North America right now that have stranded gas – North Dakota, West Virginia and Alberta, Canada.”

He said customers will come after all of the necessary things are put in place.

“All of a sudden you’re in a discussion with Amazon or whoever,” O’Leary said. “They’re saying, ‘We’re moving to North Dakota.’”

What’s next for North Dakota

O’Leary says big things are in store for North Dakota in the next five to 10 years.

“I think you’re going to catch the data center wave and the AI wave for a simple reason – You’ve got power,” he said.

O’Leary also predicts North Dakota’s future in ag tech is bright, due to the research being done in the state.

He also points to drones as a possibility for North Dakota.

“There’s a pretty healthy entrepreneurial spirit around drone technology,” O’Leary said. “We don’t want to use Chinese drones flying around, so we have to make our own. And where are we going to do that? It’s going to happen in North Dakota.”