Google buys Crusoe's planned Wyoming data center site

Crusoe announced on November 6 that Google has acquired the data center site in southeast Wyoming that Crusoe had been developing, which ends Crusoe's prior work there on site selection, government approvals, and power planning. Crusoe had partnered with Tallgrass Energy on the project, originally planning a hybrid power setup that combined fuel cells, grid electricity, and natural gas turbines, along with a roadmap for capturing carbon emissions from the site. Crusoe's CEO, Chase Lochmiller, said the company still has more than 6 gigawatts of data center capacity under contract elsewhere and over 40 gigawatts more in its development pipeline, suggesting this sale does not significantly set back its broader growth plans. Crusoe's announcement does not give a price for the sale. This kind of site transfer reflects how competitive and capital-intensive the race to build AI data center capacity has become, with major tech companies sometimes acquiring already-scouted and partially approved sites rather than starting site selection and permitting from scratch.

Why it matters

Google acquiring an already-permitted site shows how fiercely tech companies are competing to secure data center capacity for AI growth.

Source: Crusoe