Crusoe says Google has bought out its data center site in southeast Wyoming; Crusoe reportedly failed to lock in customers including Google for the project

Google is now solely responsible for securing power and resources for its large Wyoming data center. The failure of Crusoe to lock in customers for its planned project means that the cost and timeline for data center development will be directly borne by hyperscalers.

Google has announced plans to invest $17 billion in a new, massive data center in Laramie County, Wyoming. The facility is intended to power AI tasks and will be built in partnership with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power, and Related Digital. Power for the data center will be partly sourced from a planned 702-megawatt fuel-cell development, with Bloom Energy supplying the fuel cells. This announcement follows reports that Crusoe, the initial developer of the Wyoming site, was pressured to exit the project due to concerns over costs and timelines raised by Google. Crusoe had initially announced the project in July 2025, envisioning a facility that could scale to 10GW of compute capacity and leverage local natural gas and water resources.

The significant investment by Google in Wyoming underscores the hyperscalers' continued aggressive expansion in data center capacity, particularly for AI workloads. Despite increasing public and political scrutiny over the environmental impact and resource demands of large data centers, major tech companies are proceeding with ambitious build-outs. The selection of Wyoming, likely chosen for its land availability and potential energy resources, signals a strategic move to secure large-scale infrastructure away from potentially more regulated or competitive coastal areas.

This situation highlights the evolving dynamics between infrastructure developers and hyperscalers, with tech giants increasingly taking direct control of critical projects. Crusoe's reported inability to secure anchor tenants and manage project timelines suggests a high bar for new entrants in the data center development space. It also implies that hyperscalers like Google are willing to absorb greater direct project management and financial risk to ensure their strategic infrastructure needs are met on their terms.