GPU-focused cloud company CoreWeave plans to spend $1.6 billion on a data center in Plano, Texas.
The company will have to invest at least $800m a year for the next two years to be eligible for a tax rebate that was passed this week by the Plano City Council. In 2025 and 2026, 50 percent of the total minimum of $1.6bn spent on improvements will be returned to CoreWeave.
The data center at 1000 Coit Road is publicly listed as being owned and operated by Lincoln Property Company's Lincoln Rackhouse, and has gone through several iterations.
It was once the North American campus for French telecommunications giant Alcatel, before being sold to Westmount Realty Capital in 2004. From there it went to Countrywide Financial, which was then acquired by Bank of America during the 2008 financial crash. BoA sold the facility during a data center consolidation effort, and it was taken over by Lincoln Rackhouse in 2018.
DCD has contacted CoreWeave for details on Lincoln Rackhouse's continued involvement in the facility, with the company's initial announcement making the project sound like a new-build.
"We are pleased to partner with Plano and the local community to open this cutting-edge data center and create new jobs," CoreWeave CEO and co-founder Michael Intrator said.
"The 450,000 square foot (42,000 sqm) facility will help meet the unprecedented demand for high-performance cloud solutions for artificial intelligence, machine learning, pixel streaming, and other emerging technologies that CoreWeave is uniquely positioned to deliver."
CoreWeave began as a cryptomining business but successfully pivoted to AI-focused cloud computing, benefiting from the boom in generative AI workloads. With hyperscalers struggling to acquire GPUs, Nvidia gave CoreWeave (and other start-up cloud companies) priority access to the chips, and invested in the company as part of a $221m round. A month later it raised another $200m.
In June, Microsoft signed a multi-year deal with CoreWeave to use its data centers for some of its Azure AI workloads.
CoreWave currently offers three data center regions; US East in Weehawken, New Jersey; US West in Las Vegas, Nevada; and US Central in Chicago, Illinois.
