March 27 (Reuters) - AI data center startup Crusoe said

on Friday it will build a new 900-megawatt campus to run

artificial intelligence workloads for Microsoft ( MSFT ) in

Texas, as tech companies aggressively expand generative AI

capacity.

Billions of dollars are being spent on data centers to meet the

massive computing requirements for GenAI. Microsoft ( MSFT ) alone

reported $37.5 billion in capital expenditure for the quarter

ended December 31, with about two-thirds going toward computing

chips for services like Copilot and ChatGPT.

* Located next to Crusoe's existing AI facilities in

Abilene, Texas, the new campus will bring the site's total

projected capacity to 2.1 gigawatts. On average, one gigawatt is

enough to power 750,000 homes.

* Microsoft ( MSFT ) struck an agreement with Crusoe to occupy the

site after the startup's talks with Oracle and OpenAI

fell through, according to a Bloomberg News report earlier this

week. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time

OpenAI's existing agreement with Oracle is still on track.

* Crusoe did not share the financial terms of the deal, but

industry executives have estimated 1 GW of computing power can

cost around $50 billion.

* While Oracle and OpenAI are developing the adjacent

Stargate campus, Microsoft's ( MSFT ) entry cements Abilene as a hub for

AI training and inference.

* The first building on the new campus is expected to open

in mid-2027, with the site supplied by its own power plant to

increase grid resilience.

* The facility will use a "closed-loop" cooling system to

address the high thermal demands of AI chips. Such systems

recirculate water through radiators to eliminate waste from

evaporation.