Welcome to the latest edition of Building the Future. Over the past two months, the U.S. digital infrastructure sector has seen historic investment volumes, ground-breaking announcements, and growing pressure to meet the soaring demand for AI infrastructure. From megaprojects in Texas to massive funding rounds from hyperscale developers, here are the most impactful announcements.
OpenAI’s $500 Billion “Stargate” Campus — Crusoe Secures $11.6 Billion for Phase One
OpenAI has officially approved its Stargate Project, an ambitious data center initiative expected to cost up to $500 Billion over four years. Crusoe, in partnership with Primary Digital Infrastructure, Blue Owl Capital, and West Texas utility authorities, secured $11.6 Billion in debt and equity financing to build the first phase: a 1.2 GW hyperscale campus in Abilene, Texas, scheduled to be operational by mid-2026.
Chase Lochmiller, CEO and co-founder of Crusoe, emphasized the project’s significance, stating:
“The foundation of artificial intelligence starts with energy and data centers. 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.”
Bill Stein, Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at Primary Digital Infrastructure, also underscored the strategic nature of the project:
“The AI data center 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.”
NTT Global Invests $10 Billion in AI-First Expansion
NTT Global Data Centers announced a $10 Billion global investment plan, with a huge capacity increase targeting 370+ MW. Major new builds in Mesa, AZ and across North America position NTT to serve the rapidly growing demand for AI computing power.
Doug Adams, CEO and President of Global Data Centers at NTT, emphasized the company’s forward-looking approach: “At NTT, we’re laser-focused on building for the future while delivering the scalable, secure and sustainable infrastructure enterprises need today.”
“As we look ahead to 2025, we remain focused on empowering the world’s most innovative companies with the infrastructure that fuels their transformation.”
Blue Owl, Chirisa, and PowerHouse’s $5 Billion Joint Venture
Blue Owl Capital, Chirisa Technology Parks, and PowerHouse Data Centers have announced the closing of a $750 Million transaction in their landmark joint venture development partnership.
The JV will focus on developing turnkey AI and high-performance computing data centers, aiming to support hyperscale and enterprise customers, with CoreWeave being a primary client.
Doug Fleit, CEO and Co-founder of PowerHouse, commented:
“This closing underscores our partnership’s continuum and commitment to building scalable, sustainable, and high-performance digital campuses that support the deployment of AI infrastructure.”
STACK Raises $6 Billion for Sustainable Growth
STACK Infrastructure has raised $6 Billion to fund its new era of eco-conscious hyperscale growth. The company is aggressively pursuing low-carbon campuses across North America and Europe, aligning infrastructure buildouts with the green demands of cloud and AI clients.
Spotlight: Data Center Investment Conference (DICE) 2025 – Virginia
Held last week between May 20-22, Bisnow‘s DICE National in Virginia brought together the industry’s top voices across finance, development, construction, utilities, and AI infrastructure.
Panel: Onsite Construction – Implementing the Best Tools and Technology for Project Delivery
Key Speakers included:
- Peter Hopper – Co-Founder & Managing Director, Primary Digital Infrastructure
- Michael Lee – Managing Director, GI Partners
- Daniel Golding – Chief Technology Officer, The ASG Team
- Adam Krupp – Managing Director, Wharton Equity Partners
- Tara Risser – Chief Business Officer, Cologix, Inc.
- Adam Black – Senior Vice President, Design & Construction, TA Digital Group (TADG)
- Haynes Strader – Chief Development Officer, Skybox Datacenters
- Angela Harding – Associate Director, Macquarie Group
- David Dunn – Chief Operating Officer, H5 Data Centers
- Lane Anderson – Executive Vice President, Development & Strategic Procurement, QTS Data Centers
Lucas Chadwick & I attended the conference representing Metric Geo, and had the pleasure of meeting with leaders in the space.
Meeting with Dan Golding – Chief Technology Officer, Appleby Strategy Group
We had 150+ meetings in three days, and learned a lot about the unique challenges and demands of the industry – Labor, power, and supply chain were common themes.
For those we did not manage to connect with, we will be reaching out in the coming weeks to set-up an introduction.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at conferences in the near future, and for those going to Cannes for Datacloud Global Congress, have a great time – I hope the weather is as good as it was two weeks ago!
