Crusoe CEO on Abilene Project and Data Center Energy Demand at CERAWeek

Summary

• Crusoe's Abilene, Texas data center campus ("Stargate") is a marquee asset, with the first two buildings (103MW IT load each, ~140MW power capacity) fully operational.
• A second phase began in February 2025 and is being energized, with full energization expected later this year.
• The primary supply chain constraint is labor (electricians, plumbers), not the Iran conflict, requiring lucrative pay packages to attract workers to locations like Abilene.
• Crusoe emphasizes being a thoughtful grid partner, building a 350MW on-site gas plant in Abilene to support its load and sometimes adding generation (solar, batteries, gas) that provides net energy to the local market.
• CEO sees geopolitical tensions in the Middle East (e.g., drone attacks on an IWC data center) as tempering investment excitement there, potentially redirecting more AI data center investment to stable regions like the United States.
• Investor concerns about demand falling off are addressed via long-term (15-20 year), investment-grade guaranteed offtake contracts, which facilitate capital formation.
• Data center curtailment during grid strain, per potential regulations, is seen as a net positive trade-off to get power faster; Crusoe plans to engineer around it with on-site batteries, generation, and workload management.
• The business model involves acting as a "thoughtful financial engineer," structuring contracts and credit to de-risk large infrastructure builds for capital partners.