Crusoe AI Raised $1.375Billion – But Why?

The Crusoe AI artificial intelligence infrastructure landscape witnessed a transformative moment when Crusoe Energy Systems secured $1.375 billion in Series E funding, achieving a remarkable $10 billion valuation. This isn’t merely another funding milestone—it represents a fundamental reimagining of how AI infrastructure should be built, powered, and scaled in an era where energy availability has become the primary constraint on technological advancement.

What Makes Crusoe AI the “AI Factory Company”?

Crusoe AI has established itself as a vertically integrated powerhouse controlling every layer of the infrastructure stack. The company integrates power planning directly into data center design, selecting sites near abundant energy sources and building proprietary utility networks. This comprehensive approach enables Crusoe Cloud to serve leading AI innovators including Cursor, Decart, Fireworks, and Together AI with 99.98% uptime. Unlike traditional data center operators relying on fragmented supply chains, Crusoe’s end-to-end control delivers compute resources at lower costs while maintaining unprecedented environmental oversight—a combination that traditional hyperscalers cannot replicate.

From Bitcoin Mining to AI Infrastructure: Crusoe’s AI Pivot

Founded in 2018 by Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness, Crusoe AI began by converting wasted natural gas from oil fields into energy for cryptocurrency mining operations. The company’s Digital Flare Mitigation technology captured methane that would otherwise be burned off, transforming waste into computational power. The strategic pivot to AI infrastructure came in late 2023 with a $200 million loan to purchase NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, perfectly timed as AI workload demand exploded. This transition leveraged Crusoe’s energy expertise precisely when power availability became the critical bottleneck for AI scaling, positioning the company at the epicenter of computing’s next evolution.

How Crusoe AI Builds Gigawatt Data Centers in Just One Year

Crusoe’s AI 1.2-gigawatt AI data center campus in Abilene, Texas went operational just one year after construction began—half the time required for traditional hyperscale facilities. The nearly 1-million-square-foot complex can operate 100,000 GPUs on a single integrated network fabric, delivering enough power for approximately 700,000 homes. Crusoe’s vertical integration, including in-house manufacturing via Crusoe Industries with a $10 million, 120,000-square-foot Tulsa facility, enables unprecedented deployment speed. With 2,000 daily workers scaling to 5,000, the construction mobilization demonstrates industrial-scale execution that competitors struggle to match, fundamentally redefining data center delivery timelines.

Clean Energy Solution: Powering AI the Sustainable Way

Crusoe addresses the AI energy paradox through energy-first design, selecting the Abilene site for proximity to abundant wind energy. The facilities feature direct-to-chip liquid cooling with zero-water evaporation closed-loop systems, targeting Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.2-1.3 versus the industry average of 1.8. Crusoe invests in emerging technologies including carbon capture, small modular nuclear reactors, and partnerships with Redwood Materials deploying second-life EV batteries for grid stability. Since 2018, Crusoe’s technology has avoided over 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas flaring and approximately 2.7 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, proving sustainable computing at scale is achievable.

$10 Billion Valuation: Who’s Backing Crusoe’s AI Growth?

The oversubscribed $1.375 billion round was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital, with participation from NVIDIA, Founders Fund, Fidelity Management, Salesforce Ventures, and Supermicro. NVIDIA’s investment validates Crusoe’s critical infrastructure position. The funding coincides with President Trump’s January 2025 announcement of the $500 billion Stargate AI initiative, with Crusoe’s Abilene campus serving as a cornerstone. Throughout 2025, Crusoe’s energy portfolio expanded fourfold to over 45 gigawatts while Crusoe Cloud bookings grew fivefold. With additional gigawatt-scale campuses under development including a 1.8-gigawatt Wyoming facility and international expansion in Norway and Iceland, the $10 billion valuation reflects investor conviction in sustainable, scalable AI infrastructure.