Crusoe sells its unfinished Wyoming data center project to Google, which plans to invest $17 billion

Crusoe, a Denver-based data center developer recently valued at $30.9 billion, confirmed on Friday that it has sold an unfinished data center project in southeastern Wyoming to Google, TechCrunch reports. Crusoe had tried and failed to sign Google as a customer for the site. Google is now taking over development after reportedly raising concerns about the project's cost and construction timeline under Crusoe's management. Crusoe announced the project last year with Tallgrass, an infrastructure company backed by Blackstone, and planned to scale it eventually to 10 gigawatts of power capacity. Google did not say how much it paid, but it announced plans to invest $17 billion to develop the campus. The two companies are still working together: Crusoe is building another data center for Google near Amarillo, Texas. Bloomberg first reported the sale in June, and the setback did not stop Crusoe from raising a $3.9 billion round in September. The deal shows how hard it can be for independent developers to deliver very large projects on time and within budget, given the difficulty of securing equipment and power. Growing opposition from local communities adds to those difficulties for builders and their hyperscaler customers.