05/11/2025 What I Read Last Week
#DigitalInfrastructure news: Crusoe, xAI, Amazon, gigawatt scale, Iowa, renewable energy, quantum computing
Weekly Edition of curated news about Digital Infrastructure
The Data Center is the New Unit of Compute: Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller
At a recent Sequoia Capital AI Ascent event Chase Lochmiller was interviewed. I’ve watched Crusoe for some time now; and they certainly started with an energy-first approach. They were big into mining and have pivoted completely into what Sequoia called the AI industrial revolution. Crusoe has finely tuned their data center model, and has been executing extremely well the past few years. Here are a few highlights from Chase that stood out to me:
“What's the capacity of Northern Virginia? It was roughly 4.5 gigawatts of total capacity in Northern Virginia. Crusoe is a 7-year-old startup; we're building big AI infrastructure. We're currently working on about 2 gigawatts of capacity currently under construction. We have about 20 gigawatts in the pipeline.”
“We got quotes for low-voltage switch gear. And the quotes we were getting were 100 weeks, I was like that's insane; you know 100 weeks, I don't have 100 weeks. So we stood up a factory and we started making switch gear ourselves and now we make it in 22 weeks.”
“I have three different deals with small modular reactor companies that hopefully will accelerate nuclear as a critical piece of the energy to power the data centers of the future.”
[Link] Infrastructure Masons - State of the Digital Infrastructure Industry: Annual Report 2025. I’ve only started to read through this report, but it is amazing and full of good statistics and insights into the industry. Highly recommend.
[Link] Amazon announced it plans to launch an Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure Region in Chile by the end of 2026. Amazon is planning to invest more than $4 billion in Chile to support the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of its data centers in the country.
[Link] Colossus is fully operational with 200,000 GPUs backed by Tesla batteries. According to the Greater Memphis Chamber, the xAI Memphis Supercluster will receive 150 MW from Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Aside from that, it also boasts another 150 MW of Megapack Batteries that will serve as backup, allowing it to stay powered in case of outages or during times of increased demand.
[Link] It is just a ground breaking story - but it is the best place for data centers (Iowa), so I wanted to report it. Edged Energy broke ground on their Des Moines data center; saying that the ultra-efficient facility will deliver 13.2 MW of critical capacity, advanced waterless cooling, and robust, high-speed fiber connections. I drove by the site recently - and can confirm there are piles of dirt there…. ツ
[Link] ARPA-E released a video from its recent Energy Innovation Summit, with 5 fast-pitch talks on a range of topics including subsea geothermal power, pump battery storage, carbon fuels, direct energy conversion, and nuclear microreactors. Very interesting talks - although way over my head to completely understand.
[Link] Elementl Power and Google sign strategic agreement to develop locations for advanced nuclear projects. With the support of Google, Elementl is advancing its goal to bring more than 10 gigawatts online in the United States by 2035.
[Link] Construction underway on 765 MW of new battery energy storage systems in Georgia. Georgia Power’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission anticipates approximately 8,200 megawatts of electrical load growth by 2030 – an increase of more than 2,200 MW compared to projections in its 2023 IRP update, which called for the construction of a swath of new battery energy storage systems (BESS) to help answer the call of data centers and mass electrification.
[Link] Exelon data center pipeline surges to 36GW, prompting $15bn grid upgrade. Public utility Exelon has reported that its data center pipeline has swelled to 36GW, almost doubling since the end of last year.
[Link] Exowatt, which provides round-the-clock solar power for industrial applications, will use a recent $70 million funding round to expand its domestic production and further develop its Exowatt P3 technology. One of the investors in the round was 8090 Industries. How cool is this company?! Oklo, Exowatt, Gold Hydrogen, Armada (on my close-watch list), and Varda Space Industries, among others.
[Link] gridstatus.io blog. Byte Blackouts: How large data center loads are surfacing new issues
A significant incident occurred in July 2024 in the Dominion zone of PJM, where data centers suddenly switching to backup power caused a near "byte blackout" due to rapid voltage drops.
Unlike other regions, PJM has a limited battery capacity, which is crucial for managing the flexibility of large loads like data centers. This lack of battery storage exacerbates the challenges of maintaining grid stability.
The incident highlighted the limited tools available to grid operators for managing sudden load drops, as traditional methods are better suited for increasing rather than decreasing power.
While PJM is preparing for a growing data center load, the increase in flexible load is not being matched by flexible battery storage.
[Link] Energy Changemakers: What Do All Big Power Outages Have in Common? A Big Grid. In April, a major power outage struck large areas of Spain and Portugal, causing loss of life and approximately $1.7 billion in economic damage. The exact cause is still under investigation, but experts expect it to be a combination of unexpected events. This event is part of a recurring pattern seen worldwide, where large interconnected power grids experience cascading failures due to complex vulnerabilities.
[Link] Cisco unveiled its Quantum Network Entanglement Chip – a research prototype and breakthrough technology that enables quantum networks to scale and connect quantum processors for practical applications. The company also opened a dedicated research lab in Santa Monica, California.
[Link] Cisco - Quantum Key Distribution and the Path to Post-Quantum Computing. As a diverse collection of stakeholders anticipates the maturing of Post-Quantum Computing, the risks of Q-Day and Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL) cyberattacks remain a cause for concern. In this post, we will explore what’s available today for quantum-safe solutions, along with the viability and potential of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), an emerging technology that spans the gap between the present and the PQC future.
[Link] IonQ announced plans to launch a global space-to-space and space-to-ground satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) network, highlighting its ambitions to be the first company to have both a quantum network and quantum computer in space. To develop this network IonQ announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Capella Space Corporation, a signals platform leader for top-secret government and commercial applications. The company is also acquiring Lightsynq Technologies Inc., a Boston-based startup founded by former Harvard University quantum memory experts. Lightsynq’s team and IP are expected to significantly accelerate both IonQ’s quantum networking and quantum computing roadmaps.
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