Venture Global Raises Profit Forecast, Targets AI Data Center Power

November 10, 2026, (Inside AI) — Venture Global lifted its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday and confirmed a hard timeline for selling power to AI data centers, turning a liquefied natural gas exporter into a would-be utility for the compute buildout. The Arlington, Virginia-based company now expects 2026 adjusted core earnings of $10 billion to $10.3 billion, up from a prior range of $8.7 billion to $9.1 billion and above the $9.2 billion analysts had modeled, according to LSEG data. Shares rose 8.2% in premarket trading. Third-quarter adjusted core profit reached $2.6 billion, beating estimates of $2.5 billion.

The significance sits less in the earnings beat than in what Venture Global intends to do with the gas. AI data centers have strained public grids, and the company is positioning itself to supply dedicated power, land and cooling water at sites in Louisiana's Cameron and Plaquemines parishes. Management expects first compute capacity delivery in late 2028, ramping to roughly 5 gigawatts by the end of 2031. Those facilities would run independent of public power and water systems.

Sixteen Power Islands and a July 2027 Deadline

The supply chain for that plan took shape in October, when Venture Global signed framework agreements with GE Vernova and Baker Hughes for up to 16 power island units totaling about 11.5 gigawatts, plus transformers and grid equipment. The company pairs those orders with roughly 15,000 acres of controlled land, access to about 13 billion cubic feet per day of pipeline capacity and about 4 gigawatts of existing power infrastructure.

CEO Mike Sabel framed the package as a full-stack offering rather than a fuel sale. "Venture Global can provide access to island-mode power, land, closed-loop water systems, American natural gas supply, our in-house EPC, and track record of execution as the market dictates to support compute capacity for the country's AI race," Sabel said.

The LNG side of the business is moving in parallel. Venture Global narrowed the timeline for first production from its CP2 project to July 2027, 24 months after reaching a final investment decision on Phase 1. That schedule matters because the same gas supply underpins both export contracts and the proposed data center power.

The strategic bet here is vertical integration of an unusual kind. Most independent power producers buy fuel at market prices and resell electricity under long-term contracts. Venture Global would own the molecule, the pipeline, the generation units and the land, which removes several layers of counterparty risk but concentrates execution risk in one balance sheet. The 2028 delivery target leaves roughly two years to convert framework agreements into operating hardware, a window that has historically slipped for first-of-a-kind power projects.

Demand conditions support the pivot. Grid interconnection queues in major US markets now stretch years, and operators have increasingly pursued behind-the-meter generation to bypass them. Venture Global is not alone in chasing that business. Pipeline companies, nuclear developers and gas turbine makers have all repriced their growth stories around data center load, and the scramble for turbine slots has become a constraint in its own right. The GE Vernova and Baker Hughes frameworks give Venture Global a place in that queue, though framework agreements are not binding equipment orders.

Analysts had expected a strong quarter given LNG spot conditions, but the guidance raise exceeded consensus by a wide margin. The gap between the old midpoint of about $8.9 billion and the new midpoint of roughly $10.15 billion implies management sees materially better realizations or volumes in the coming year. Venture Global did not break out how much of the upgrade stems from data center plans, which remain pre-revenue.

For now, the compute business is a promise with a schedule attached. Investors will watch whether the 2028 target holds and whether framework agreements convert into firm orders. The CP2 timeline offers an early test of execution discipline, and the July 2027 date now stands as a public benchmark the company must meet.