Where did the name Crusoe come from?
It is named after Robinson Crusoe, who was stranded on this desert island and had to use his resources very creatively to survive. At Crusoe, we try to apply the same approach to innovation that we apply to waste energy. Unused energy is energy that could be produced but is not produced because there is no demand for it. We had a whole flare gas mitigation business where we captured waste methane from oil production that was flared and used it to power modular data centers.
Crusoe is building the first phase of OpenAI's Stargate data center project in Abilene, Texas, which President Donald Trump announced in January. How did this deal happen?
ChatGPT was launched in November 2022. Demand is increasing sharply. All these AI startups are getting started. Companies like us have leased most of our existing data center capacity over the next 12 months. Suddenly we had the lowest data center vacancy rate in the history of the industry. People look around and say, “Okay, I need hundreds of megawatts of power and I don't know where it's going to come from.” We were in a position where we had a lot of strength and capabilities that we could turn into high-performance computing infrastructure, and we had the desire to implement it in a very short time frame.
It is my understanding that many Stargates are powered by wind, but there is also gas as well as a backup power source. This is right?
Exactly. It is connected to the network. But the fact is that this is an area that is very rich in wind and solar energy. There were many renewable energy developers who built wind farms in the region because they were incentivized by tax incentives where they were actually paid to produce renewable energy and sell it regardless of the actual price. This program lasted 10 years and actually led to some reinvestment in the region. What you had was that electricity prices very often became negative because these electricity producers were willing to sell at a negative price. They literally paid to get rid of their power. So there was actually a surplus of clean energy in the region. We saw this as a huge opportunity to meet the finite energy demand in this region with an abundance of clean energy.
Are you seeing an increase in energy demand as a result of AI?
Absolutely. You see renewable, clean generation as well as fossil fuel-based generation. Thanks to artificial intelligence, a lot of new energy is being developed to meet demand. We need much more of this.
Recently, a report claimed that every data center in the world is vulnerable to Chinese espionage. What security measures do you take in the data centers you build?
Safety is of the utmost importance to us. We take this extremely seriously, both the physical and digital side. When it comes to digital technology, it has been – and I think will continue to be – a constant game of cat and mouse, requiring investment and a commitment to keep up with the latest trends. We understand that the scale and importance of this project make it a security risk. Just because of how big he is and how important he is, he has a target on his back from certain people. For example, the perimeter is secured in such a way that if you drive a fully loaded 18-wheeler into it, you won't scratch an inch.
Are three-letter agencies involved?
I don't know if we have three letter agencies involved. It's probably above my pay grade. [Laughs.] Perhaps one of our partners brought them into this. It's possible.
