Bill Gates Is Betting on “Butter From Air” — And It’s Happening in Chicago

Butter has always been a symbol of comfort and tradition. From flaky croissants and golden biscuits to sizzling pans of Sunday morning breakfast, butter is woven into the culinary fabric of our lives. Yet, in a quiet Chicago suburb, a company called Savor is rewriting that story. With the backing of Bill Gates and his Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, this startup is building what they call “carbon butter” — a dairy-like fat made not from cows or crops, but from air.

This bold idea is part of a larger shift in how we think about food, climate change, and sustainability. While the concept of “butter made from thin air” may sound like science fiction, it is quickly becoming science fact, and Chicago is playing host to its early stages.

The Science of Butter Without Cows

At its core, butter is fat. Chemically speaking, it is made up of chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms, which give butter its smooth texture, rich taste, and ability to melt, spread, and brown in a pan. Traditionally, those chains come from cow’s milk. But Savor has figured out a way to produce the same chains directly, using carbon dioxide captured from the air and hydrogen split from water.

Their process converts these molecules into the same kinds of fatty acids found in butter, sidestepping the animal entirely. The result, according to early taste testers, is nearly indistinguishable from traditional dairy butter. It spreads the same way, sizzles the same way, and carries the familiar flavor that has defined Western cooking for centuries.

This isn’t a plant-based substitute like margarine or coconut oil. It’s not a nut butter or soy derivative. It is an entirely new category: fat built from the most basic building blocks of life, engineered without livestock, without farmland, and without the ecological costs tied to traditional agriculture.

Why Bill Gates Is Interested

Bill Gates has made no secret of his interest in food technology. Through his Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, he has backed companies exploring lab-grown meat, plant-based proteins, and now, air-based dairy alternatives. The motivation is clear: agriculture, especially animal agriculture, is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Cows in particular produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during digestion. Dairy farming also demands enormous amounts of land and water, not to mention the environmental toll of feed crops and fertilizer. By contrast, carbon butter could be produced in controlled facilities with a fraction of the footprint.

For Gates, this represents more than an investment opportunity. It is a chance to prove that climate-friendly foods can scale, become mainstream, and replace some of the most resource-intensive staples in our diets. Butter is an especially symbolic product to target because it is beloved, widely used, and difficult to replace without sacrificing flavor.

The Chicago Connection

Savor is headquartered in Batavia, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. This location is not just a coincidence. Chicago has long been a hub for food innovation, from its meatpacking heritage to its role in developing modern food science and processing technologies. By situating in the Midwest, Savor is tapping into a region that has both the industrial infrastructure and the cultural history to support large-scale food production.

The choice also underscores a larger point: while Silicon Valley and coastal cities often dominate conversations about innovation, the Midwest continues to quietly shape how the world eats. With its proximity to farmland, research institutions, and a major transportation hub in Chicago, the region is well-positioned to become a leader in sustainable food technologies.

Scaling Up: From Lab to Market

So far, Savor has raised more than $33 million in funding. Its goal is to build a facility capable of producing 10,000 metric tons of carbon butter annually. But this is not simply about putting tubs of butter on supermarket shelves. The company plans to act as an ingredient supplier, working with food manufacturers, bakeries, and chefs to incorporate its butter into existing products.

This approach mirrors how other food tech companies have scaled in the past. Plant-based meat companies, for example, began by partnering with restaurants before moving into grocery stores. By embedding carbon butter into pastries, ice creams, and sauces, Savor hopes to normalize the product long before it competes head-to-head with traditional butter in the dairy aisle.

Early Trials and Public Reception

Though the butter is not yet commercially available, Savor has staged small rollouts. In San Francisco, a patisserie used the butter in its chocolate bonbons. The confections sold out quickly, with customers noting that the taste and texture were indistinguishable from conventional dairy.

Food critics and chefs who have had access to test samples have echoed the same sentiment: this isn’t margarine. It isn’t an imitation. It is butter in every way that matters to the senses.

The biggest hurdle may not be taste but perception. Food is deeply tied to culture and tradition, and consumers may hesitate at the idea of butter that comes from air rather than cows. For some, it may feel too futuristic, too engineered. Overcoming that skepticism will require transparency, education, and continued proof that the product is safe, sustainable, and delicious.

The Road Ahead

Despite the excitement, full commercialization is still a few years away. Savor hopes to achieve widespread retail availability by 2027, pending regulatory approvals. In the United States, new food technologies often require a “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS) designation from the Food and Drug Administration. While Savor has already secured self-affirmed GRAS status, further steps will likely be necessary before their butter reaches a mass market.

This timeline reflects the careful balance between innovation and safety. Rushing a new product onto shelves without proper oversight could backfire, while moving too slowly risks losing momentum. For now, Savor is focused on scaling its facilities, perfecting its supply chain, and continuing to attract investment to bridge the gap between concept and reality.

A Cultural Shift in the Making

The story of carbon butter is not just about one startup or one product. It is part of a broader movement to reimagine the food system for a world facing climate change, population growth, and resource constraints. From lab-grown chicken to precision fermentation dairy proteins, food technology is advancing rapidly.

Yet butter holds a unique place in this conversation. It is both everyday and luxurious, humble and iconic. If a product as fundamental as butter can be reinvented successfully, it sends a powerful message: no part of our food culture is off-limits to innovation.

Bill Gates’ backing of Savor places Chicago at the center of a potentially historic transformation in how we think about food. While it may take years before carbon butter is a staple in households, its very existence challenges our assumptions about what food is, where it comes from, and how it might evolve in a warming world.

The next time you spread butter on toast or watch it melt into a pan, consider this: one day soon, that golden richness may not come from a cow at all, but from air. And if the technology delivers on its promises, that shift could mark not just a new chapter in food, but in sustainability itself.