Crusoe Sells Troubled Wyoming Data Center Project to Google

Crusoe, a Denver-based data center developer valued at $30.9 billion, confirmed on a Friday that it has sold an unfinished data center project in southeastern Wyoming to Google.

Google, which Crusoe initially sought as a customer for the project, is taking over the development after raising concerns about the project’s cost and construction timeline under Crusoe’s management.

The project was first announced last year in collaboration with Tallgrass, an infrastructure company backed by Blackstone, with plans to scale it to 10 gigawatts of power capacity.

While Google did not disclose the purchase price for the unfinished project, it announced plans to invest $17 billion to develop the data center campus.

This deal underscores the challenges independent data center developers face in delivering large projects on time and within budget, particularly regarding equipment and power procurement. Local community opposition can further complicate these developments.

Despite the setback in Wyoming, Google continues to work with Crusoe on another data center project near Amarillo, Texas.

The sale of the Wyoming site was first reported by Bloomberg in June, but this development did not hinder Crusoe from raising $3.9 billion in funding in September.

Crusoe generates revenue by leasing data center space to customers who provide their own GPUs, renting its own GPUs, and selling compute power for running AI models, known as inference.

The company’s largest projects cater to major players in the AI sector. Its campus in Abilene, Texas, is being developed in phases for Oracle and OpenAI, while a separate 900-megawatt campus is under construction for Microsoft, with the first building expected to be operational by mid-2027. Additionally, Meta is a customer, and Bloomberg reported that trading firm Jane Street signed a $13 billion, five-year cloud deal with Crusoe.

Founded by Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness, Crusoe began as a cryptocurrency-mining business utilizing natural gas that would otherwise be flared. In September, alongside its funding round, the company appointed three new board members, including JB Straubel, founder of Redwood Materials and a Tesla board member who invested in Crusoe in 2021.

Source: TechCrunch