US nuclear developer Fermi has named a new chief executive officer more than three months after firing co-founder Toby Neugebauer from the post.

Fermi said it has hired Lee McIntire, an independent member of the company’s board who has held chief executive positions at CH2M Hill and TerraPower, the nuclear power startup founded by Bill Gates.

Fermi, which was co-founded by former US energy secretary Rick Perry, is developing an AI campus in Amarillo, Texas, called Project Matador that will eventually use nuclear reactors to power data centres.

The company is planning a “hypergrid” campus – essentially a massive gas, nuclear and solar complex that could deliver its first power to onsite data centres by the end of 2026.