Locator: 49294STARGATE.
I have five grandchildren. My hunch: each of them, within ten years, could be millionaires, starting with $100,000 today by each building a single-stock portfolio based on information from this article, link here.
Data points, Stargate Data Center, Abilene, Texas:
- one "building" has been completed, operational; seven more buildings under construction
- site footprint: 1,100 acres
- average footprint of each building with associated parking / road / cement foundation: 140 acres
- atypical, but the absolutely largest Walmart with parking lot: 44 acres
- length of fiberoptic cable that will be needed: enough to wrap around the Earth 16 times
- so far: small fraction of what this site will be and even when complete will still not be enough to serve even the demand of just ChatGPT
- partners: OpenAI, Oracle, SofBank
- five new data centers:
- Shackelford County, Texas
- Milam County, Texas
- Lordstown, Ohio
- Ana County, New Mexico (essentially Texas)
- yet undisclosed, a fifth site in the Midwest
- Texas is ground-zero for AI
- #1 requirement: abundant, low-cost energy
- Abilene: three hours west of Dallas
- during height of construction: 6,400 workers, daily
- once completed: 1,700 jobs on site
- entire project should be completed in about a full year
- $1 billion projected economic benefit, direct and indirect, to Abilene
The cost for the infrastructure of the Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas, was initially reported to be around
$1.1 billion, though the full project cost is expected to be much higher as it includes the installation of massive amounts of computing hardware. Developer Crusoe estimates the total build cost could reach as high as $12 billion, with billions more for the Nvidia chips.
The Stargate data center campus in Abilene, Texas, will have a total power capacity of
1.2 gigawatts (GW)
once fully built. This is part of the larger, multi-site Stargate
project, which has a total planned capacity of nearly 7 GW across the
United States.
At maximum efficiency: 1.2 GW might power 1.2 million US homes.
Crusoe's role in the Stargate project:
- Rapid construction:
Crusoe has earned recognition for its velocity and efficiency in
building AI data centers. The first two 100-megawatt buildings of the
Abilene campus were constructed in about 300 days.
- Vertical integration: The company's in-house capabilities for power and construction allow it to control project timelines and accelerate deployment.
- Strategic partnerships:
Although the end user is OpenAI, Crusoe is working directly with
Oracle, which is the cloud infrastructure partner for the Abilene site.
- Focus on sustainable energy:
Crusoe's approach involves securing clean and cost-effective energy for
its data centers. The Abilene facility uses the region's abundant wind
energy and features advanced cooling systems
The Stargate Abilene campus
- Operational and expanding:
The first phase of the Abilene campus officially went live in September
2025. Construction on the second phase began in March 2025 and is
projected to be completed by mid-2026.
- Scale: The full campus is planned to have eight buildings and a total capacity of 1.2 gigawatts.
- High-performance design:
The purpose-built facilities are optimized for high-energy-density AI
hardware, with features like direct liquid-to-chip cooling to support
thousands of GPUs.
Crusoe's evolution
Originally
known as Crusoe Energy Systems, the company first gained attention for
its "Digital Flare Mitigation" technology, which converted flared
natural gas into energy for cryptocurrency mining. In early 2025, Crusoe
shifted its focus entirely to AI, selling its bitcoin mining unit to
concentrate on building AI cloud infrastructure and data centers. This
pivot has led to Crusoe becoming a key player in the development of AI
infrastructure, culminating in its role with the massive Stargate initiative.
Crusoe is not yet publicly traded, but there is talk of an IPO.
The company Crusoe gets its name from the fictional character Robinson Crusoe
.
Co-founders Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness chose the name to
symbolize resourcefulness and creativity in utilizing scarce or wasted
resources.
The founders' reasoning links back to their business model:
- Wasted energy:
The company's origin involved capturing flared natural gas from oil
fields—a wasted resource—and converting it into energy to power computer
systems.
- Stranded energy: They also focus on "stranded energy," or power that is remote from a typical grid, and put it to use.
- Resourcefulness:
This practice of innovating with what is available parallels Robinson
Crusoe's story of being marooned and using his resourcefulness to
survive.
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OpenAI's Infrastructure Map
Link here.
