By TOI Tech Desk
Publication Date: 2026-03-30 02:44:00
Microsoft is reportedly taking over a data centre construction project in Texas after OpenAI declined to pursue it. This will make the two companies neighbours at one of the country’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) hubs. The project, located in Abilene, Texas, is being developed by data centre company Crusoe, which has now confirmed that it is working with the company that was once the exclusive cloud computing provider and still holds a roughly 27% stake in ChatGPT-maker. However, both companies have been increasingly pursuing AI development separately, even as they occupy the same tract of land. The announcement comes after OpenAI said that it had dropped plans to expand its Abilene project further earlier this month.In a written statement to Fortune, Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller said that this data centre will be the “industrial foundation for American AI”. The company’s chief executive also noted that Crusoe continues to build the power plant tied to…