Newly-formed data center provider Fermi has denied that Amazon was the tenant that canceled its $150 million agreement earlier this month.

When Fermi announced that the deal had fallen through, it said it was with an unnamed "investment grade-rated tenant."

The denial followed a report from Business Insider, which said that Fermi's CEO, Toby Neugebauer, told the publication that Amazon was the tenant during a phone call.

The agreement, while worth an initial $150m, would have paid Fermi more than $20 billion over the next 20 years, according to BI, again citing the data center developer's CEO.

Neugebauer told BI that the talks between the two remain constructive and that the current stance doesn't mean the deal is off; negotiations simply remain ongoing.

Amazon declined to comment to BI.

Despite this, Fermi has since publicly denied that Amazon was the prospective tenant. A Fermi spokesperson told DCD: “Fermi America and its CEO, Toby Neugebauer, categorically deny Business Insider’s claim that they confirmed the identity of  ‘Tenant No. 1’ to it.  We repeatedly admonished Business Insider that we did no such thing, both directly to Mr. Campbell and, through our attorneys, to Business Insider’s legal team.” 

Fermi, a company co-founded by former Texas governor and energy secretary Rick Perry, is planning to develop a massive up to 11GW data center and energy campus near Amarillo in Texas on land owned by the Texas Tech University system. If realized, Project Matador will span 18 million sq ft (1.67 million sqm) and would utilize a combination of on-site energy sources, including natural gas, solar, wind energy, and nuclear energy.

Despite having no data centers in operation, and little experience in the sector within its executive team, the company raised $682m in an October IPO that valued the business at $15bn. Following the exit of the tenant, Fermi's share price dropped 46 percent.

DCD has reached out to both Fermi and AWS for comment.