Google Commits $17 Billion to Wyoming Data Center After Taking Over Crusoe Site

Alphabet's Google said it will make a long-term $17 billion investment to build its first data center in Wyoming, in Laramie County near Cheyenne. The project follows Google's purchase of the unfinished site from AI infrastructure developer Crusoe, which confirmed the sale on Friday. Google did not disclose what it paid, so the $17 billion refers to the investment to develop the campus, not the price of the site, according to TechCrunch.

Google says it will pay for 100% of the power it uses and cover the infrastructure needs driven by its growth. That is a pledge about who pays, not a claim that the site generates its own clean power. The supply plan includes a contracted 702 MW fuel cell project with American Electric Power that burns natural gas, plus gas generators operated by Tallgrass Energy and Black Hills Energy. Google is also studying carbon capture on Tallgrass's turbines, with CO2 stored underground at a Wyoming sequestration hub, but that work is at the engineering-study stage.

Google says the facility will be air-cooled to limit water use and expects hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes for the county and its school district. Crusoe said the sale completes its pre-development work on site selection, approvals and a hybrid power strategy, and it continues to develop another Google campus near Amarillo, Texas. TechCrunch reported Google had earlier tried and failed to sign on as a customer of the project and reportedly raised concerns about cost and timeline.

Google did not state a construction timeline or the campus capacity. Investors may watch for those details, the cost of the gas-based power contracts, and whether the carbon capture study moves forward.