Bitcoin Miner Crusoe to Build ‘Multibillion-Dollar’ AI Data Center in Texas

Blockonomics
Illustration of Crusoe Energy and Lancium's AI data center in Texas.
Blockonomics

Crusoe Energy recently took on an ambitious project, partnering with Lancium, an energy tech company, to set up a top-of-the-line AI-driven data center in Texas.

Multibillion-Dollar Deal and First Phase of Construction

It was on Thursday, when Crusoe Energy, renowned for harnessing the natural gas thrown away to Bitcoin mine, made public the news that they have made an alliance with Lancium in a multibillion-dollar deal. In this tie-up, the achievement is to put up a 200-megawatt data center in Texas, which will be phase one of the whole big project of Crusoe’s data center construction.

The same release stated, the provided additional workloads are only available using a small battery bank part of the power grid at the Ling Li center. The buildings, which will be exclusively designed for data centers, will be fitted with up to 100,000 GPUs, while being run on a common integrated network interconnecting them, thereby rocketing the GPU training and inference capabilities as a result.

A Boost for AI Advancements

The CEO and co-founder of Crusoe, Chase Lochmiller, singled out the project that embraces and advances the capabilities of AI as the main highlight. According to Lochmiller, the data center will be the ground for the big GPU clusters and the acceleration in the AI sector.

“The green energy program and the way they develop the place, along with working with Lancium in Abilene, provide a unique opportunity for the city to the position of environmental sustainability in AI, and we are very excited to be supported in the venture by our city,” Lochmiller said. The data center is supposed to start running as a whole in 2025, although it will only be working in certain areas at the beginning stage.

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Crusoe Energy’s Innovative Approach

Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness are the co-founders of Crusoe which Sarbjeet Calla had just been mentioned never teh less they still were a pioneer in the field. Instead of the wasted natural gas, the company uses this sustainable energy source to power Bitcoin mining thus eliminating waste and reducing harmful emissions. This innovative approach is not only about the prevention of waste but also gives them a source of sustainable clean energy for their operations.

In April 2022, Crusoe sealed a funding agreement of $350 million in the form of Series C equity units where the company intends to use the money to fund its upcoming projects. The said investment round was closed by G2 Venture Partners, who are the main stakeholders with contributions from such investors as Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Founders Fund, and Winklevoss Capital.

Future Prospects

The partnership the two of the mentioned companies share is an excellent example of the integration of renewable energy with AI infrastructure of the next generation. This project has proven to be more than just a way to increase AI capabilities. In fact, the installation of such processors reduces the peak load demand as well as the requirement of distributed generation. Thus, by linking the two changes, more efficient and thus less harmful production of energy is achieved. The two organizations are thus the leaders not only in technological development but also in sustainability.

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