Crusoe, Blue Owl Capital, and Primary Digital Infrastructure have entered the second phase of their $15 billion joint venture to construct a 1.2 gigawatt AI data center in Abilene, Texas. The expansion involves the build-out of six additional buildings, adding to two already underway, positioning the site as one of the largest AI compute hubs in the world.
Construction of the first 200+ megawatt phase began in June 2024 and is set to be energized in the first half of 2025. The six new buildings began construction in March 2025 and are expected to go live by mid-2026. At peak, the development will employ nearly 5,000 workers. The facility will host up to 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 systems per building on a unified network fabric and utilize advanced direct-to-chip liquid cooling with closed-loop systems to minimize water use. Powered by West Texas wind energy, the project aligns with Crusoe’s mission to deliver climate-aligned AI infrastructure.
The partnership underscores strong investor conviction in hyperscale AI infrastructure. With the backing of Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform and Primary Digital’s data center expertise, Crusoe aims to deliver AI capacity at unprecedented scale and speed. The data center is located at the Lancium Clean Campus, a site chosen for its renewable power availability and strategic expansion potential.
- Second phase includes 6 new buildings, expanding project to 1.2GW
- Hosts up to 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72s per building with zero-water liquid cooling
- Peak construction workforce expected to reach 5,000
- Powered by abundant, low-cost West Texas wind energy
- Joint venture includes Crusoe, Blue Owl Capital, and Primary Digital Infrastructure
“Abilene will host one of the largest clusters of GPUs in the world,” said Chase Lochmiller, CEO of Crusoe. “We’re bringing these AI factories to life at unmatched speed and scale, delivering jobs and economic value while powering a new era of AI.”
- Crusoe, headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 2018 by Chase Lochmiller, a former quantitative hedge fund analyst at Jump Trading and Polychain Capital, and Cully Cavness, a former energy executive. The company has raised over $750 million in funding from backers including G2 Venture Partners, Baillie Gifford, and the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act–linked Energy Department loan program. Originally focused on using stranded natural gas to power modular data centers, Crusoe pivoted to AI infrastructure, announcing in 2023 its CrusoeCloud platform for training and inference workloads. In early 2024, it became one of the first firms to deploy NVIDIA H100 GPUs at scale using zero-carbon energy sources. With its vertically integrated approach—combining energy sourcing, data center construction, and AI platform delivery—Crusoe is positioning itself as a key enabler of sustainable AI infrastructure.
- Project Stargate is Crusoe’s flagship initiative to develop and deploy ultra-scale AI data centers powered by clean energy, with the aim of advancing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence infrastructure. First announced in mid-2024, Stargate involves a network of strategically located hyperscale facilities, beginning with the 1.2 gigawatt site in Abilene, Texas. The project reflects Crusoe’s commitment to climate-aligned compute at scale and leverages Crusoe’s vertically integrated model of energy procurement, hardware deployment, and AI workload management. A key milestone came in late 2024 when Crusoe secured a major capital commitment and strategic land agreements for future Stargate campuses. The Abilene facility, developed under the Stargate banner, is set to be one of the largest GPU installations globally, marking a significant step toward Crusoe’s goal of delivering sustainable AI capacity on U.S. soil.