AI infrastructure company Crusoe, Blue Owl Capital, and Primary Digital Infrastructure have launched the second phase of their $15bn joint venture (JV) to develop a 1.2GW AI data centre in Abilene, Texas.

The JV involves Crusoe working alongside funds managed by Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform and Primary Digital Infrastructure to construct six additional buildings at the site.

Located at the Lancium Clean Campus, the data centre will consist of a total of eight buildings.

The first phase of construction, which includes two buildings and more than 200MW of capacity, commenced in June 2024. It is anticipated to become operational in the first half of 2025.

The second phase began in March 2025 and involves the construction of the remaining six buildings, collectively delivering the full 1.2GW capacity. This stage is expected to be operational by mid-2026.

According to the Development Corporation of Abilene, the initial phase alone is projected to generate an economic impact of around $1bn over the next two decades.

Crusoe CEO and co-founder Chase Lochmiller said: “The foundation of artificial intelligence starts with energy and data centres. Crusoe is bringing these AI factories to life at an unmatched speed and scale that enables our customers to usher in a new era of AI driven abundance.

“Abilene will host one of the largest clusters of GPUs in the world, bringing thousands of jobs to the local community while delivering tens of billions of dollars in value to the economy.”

The completed facility will support up to 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72s per building, all connected through a single integrated network fabric.

This setup is intended to support advanced AI training and inference operations.

Each building will employ direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems with zero-water evaporation technology, recycling water through a closed loop.

Primary Digital Infrastructure executive managing director and chief investment officer Bill Stein said: “The AI data centre at the Lancium Clean Campus represents exactly the kind of strategic infrastructure investment our platform was built for — future-ready, operator-aligned, and mission critical to fulfilling AI-driven compute demand.

“By partnering with forward-thinking operators like Crusoe and financial lenders like Blue Owl, we are collectively delivering vital capacity with the scale, speed, and sustainability required to fuel AI innovation.

“We are proud to be a part of such a groundbreaking initiative that will serve as a cornerstone for advancing AI in the US.”