Crusoe Wyoming Data Center Sold to Google After Cost Worries
Crusoe has sold its unfinished Wyoming data center site to Google, which plans to spend $17 billion on the campus after reportedly souring on cost and timeline.
Hakkı ALKANPublished 2 min read
Crusoe has sold its unfinished Wyoming data center site to Google, handing the search giant a project it had once tried and failed to sign up for as a customer. Crusoe confirmed the deal on November 6 without disclosing the price, a day after Google said it would spend $17 billion building its first data center campus in the state.
What exactly did Google buy?
Google bought the site in southeast Wyoming along with the groundwork Crusoe had already done: site selection, government approvals and a power plan. In its announcement, Crusoe said that work leaves the project ready for construction and eventual operation.
The power plan is the unusual part. Crusoe and Tallgrass Energy designed a hybrid setup combining fuel cells, grid power and natural gas turbines, with a long-term roadmap for carbon capture through Tallgrass's regional CO2 storage hub. Google is now building the campus with Tallgrass, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital, as we covered when the Google Wyoming data center plan was announced.
Why did the Crusoe Wyoming data center change hands?
Crusoe first announced the campus last year with Blackstone-backed Tallgrass and talked about scaling it up to 10 gigawatts. According to TechCrunch, Crusoe had pitched the project to Google as a tenant, but Google reportedly raised concerns about cost and timeline under Crusoe's management and decided to take over development itself. Bloomberg first reported the planned sale in June.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Google's planned investment | $17 billion |
| Original planned scale | Up to 10 GW |
| Crusoe's latest valuation | $30.9 billion |
| Crusoe's September funding round | $3.9 billion |
| Crusoe contracted capacity | More than 6 GW |
| Crusoe development pipeline | Over 40 GW |
| Sale price | Not disclosed |
Is Crusoe still working with Google?
Yes. Crusoe is the developer of a separate Google campus under construction in Armstrong County, outside Amarillo, Texas, part of a wider wave of Texas data centers. CEO Chase Lochmiller framed the Wyoming exit as a finished job rather than a retreat, saying Crusoe's pre-construction work had de-risked the project.
Our Take
This is a clear sign of how the AI building boom is shifting. Independent developers can find land and power, but delivering gigawatt campuses on time and on budget is a different skill, and hyperscalers with deep pockets increasingly prefer to own the build. Crusoe keeps its role as the company that gets sites ready, while Google takes control of a project too important to leave in someone else's hands.