Microsoft is reportedly taking over a data centre construction project in Texas after OpenAI declined to pursue it. This will make the two companies neighbours at one of the country’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) hubs. The project, located in Abilene, Texas, is being developed by data centre company Crusoe, which has now confirmed that it is working with the company that was once the exclusive cloud computing provider and still holds a roughly 27% stake in ChatGPT-maker. However, both companies have been increasingly pursuing AI development separately, even as they occupy the same tract of land. The announcement comes after OpenAI said that it had dropped plans to expand its Abilene project further earlier this month.In a written statement to Fortune, Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller said that this data centre will be the “industrial foundation for American AI”. The company’s chief executive also noted that Crusoe continues to build the power plant tied to Microsoft’s project that will generate 900 megawatts “at a velocity the industry has never seen.”
What we know about Cursoe’s Texas data centre projects with Microsoft and OpenAI
The Abilene site was originally planned as a cryptocurrency mining facility before developers revised and expanded the project following the rise in demand for AI infrastructure after the launch of ChatGPT.Crusoe has announced that this site will be part of its deal with Microsoft, which involves building two new “AI factory” facilities, along with an on-site power plant for the company. The development will sit next to a separate, larger campus that Crusoe is already constructing for OpenAI and Oracle, bringing multiple AI infrastructure projects in the same location. However, Microsoft’s plant will be larger than the 350-megawatt, gas-fired power plant attached to the OpenAI and Oracle project, the company added. Crusoe has already completed two data centre buildings for OpenAI and its cloud partner Oracle, with SoftBank also involved as an investment partner. Currently, the company is constructing six additional buildings for OpenAI and Oracle, with completion expected by the end of this year.OpenAI’s existing project, which is part of the Stargate data centre initiative, was announced by US President Donald Trump as part of AI investment efforts he described as a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential.”In a post shared on X, Sachin Katti, OpenAI’s head of compute infrastructure, wrote, “Our flagship Stargate site is one of the largest AI data center campuses in the United States. We considered expanding it further, but ultimately chose to put that additional capacity in other locations.”Katti added that OpenAI has more than half a dozen sites under development across the United States, including a project with Oracle in Wisconsin.Meanwhile, Microsoft’s two additional facilities in Abilene, announced last week, will bring the total number of data centre buildings at the site to 10, with a combined capacity of 2.1 gigawatts.Oracle has said the on-site power plant will serve as a backup, as the data centres primarily rely on the regional electricity grid, including power from nearby wind farms.The expansion of AI infrastructure has also raised concerns around emissions. During a visit to Abilene last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “We’re burning gas to run this data center,” adding that “in the long trajectory of Stargate”, the aim is to transition to other power sources.
