Stargate Abilene
Abilene data center: what has been built, and what the companies claim
The Stargate flagship in Texas, quarter by quarter from orbit.
Crusoe began building on the Lancium Clean Campus outside Abilene in June 2024, for Oracle and OpenAI. This guide sets satellite pictures of every quarter since 2023 beside what the companies have said about buildings, power, water and jobs, with a source and a date on every figure.
Watch the Abilene data center go up
Fifteen clear Sentinel-2 passes over the same 4.4 by 3.4 km frame, one for each quarter from mid-2023 to November 2026. Press play, or drag the slider.
4 NOV 2026What the passes show: untouched scrub until early 2024; the first cleared ground on 5 June 2024; a graded pad with the footprints of two buildings by 10 September; two roofed buildings by 29 December 2024; a large pad to the south from March 2025, with six more buildings framed by August and roofed by the end of the year; all eight halls roofed by 26 March 2026; and from spring 2026, new ground cleared and large buildings rising south of the halls.
Status checkChecked
Is the Abilene data center finished?
The eight halls of the Stargate campus are roofed, with equipment beside them, and building continues to the south. How many buildings are switched on is a question the companies answer differently, and one a satellite cannot settle.
- Aureum satellite pass
- Eight roofed halls, with equipment along them, 4 Nov 2026Sentinel-2B at 17:25 UTC. A second build area south of the halls has been under construction since spring 2026.
- Crusoe
- A six-building second phase to bring the campus to 1.2 GW by end-2026Release of 27 March 2026, which also announced a separate 900 MW, two-building campus for Microsoft.Crusoe, 27 Mar 2026
- Oracle and OpenAI
- Eight buildings on 1,100 acres: one running, seven due by mid-2026Fact sheet of 23 September 2025, which also said a further 600 MW might follow nearby.Fact sheet, 23 Sep 2025
- Epoch AI
- About 0.3 GW operating, four of eight buildings (estimate)Site note updated 23 April 2026, projecting 1.2 GW by the fourth quarter of 2026.Epoch AI, 23 Apr 2026
- Oracle's site page
- Eight buildings, 4 million sq ft; workloads running within a yearThe page says its information is current as of January 2026 and will not be updated.Oracle
- The Microsoft campus
- 900 MW in two buildings, first due mid-2027Crusoe, 27 March 2026, with land clearing under way. It is not one of the eight Stargate buildings.
This panel is the only part of the page tied to a date. Everything below it is background, with the period stated on every figure.
Fact file
Stargate Abilene at a glance
The background figures, each with who stated it and when.
- Where
- Lancium Clean Campus, Texas
- Outside Abilene, in Taylor County (Crusoe and Lancium, July 2024; fact sheet, September 2025).
- Builder
- Crusoe
- Owns, develops and operates the data center (Lancium, July 2024).
- Cloud and customer
- Oracle, for OpenAI
- Runs on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure; OpenAI calls it the Stargate flagship (September 2025).
- Financing
- $3.4 billion joint venture
- Blue Owl and Primary Digital Infrastructure funded the first two buildings (October 2024).
- Buildings
- Eight
- On 1,100 acres, up to about 4 million sq ft (Oracle and OpenAI, September 2025).
- First project
- 206 MW, two buildings
- 998,000 sq ft, leased to an unnamed Fortune 100 tenant (October 2024).
- Campus power
- 1.2 GW
- Crusoe's figure, first stated in July 2024 and repeated in March 2026.
- Construction began
- June 2024
- Crusoe, September 2025. The first cleared ground shows in the 5 June 2024 pass.
- First chips
- June 2025
- Oracle began delivering NVIDIA GB200 racks (Crusoe; OpenAI).
- Grid
- ERCOT
- With GE Vernova gas turbines for backup power (fact sheet, September 2025).
- Cooling
- Closed-loop liquid
- Non-evaporative, according to the September 2025 fact sheet.
- Water
- 12,625 to 50,000 gallons
- Per building a year: the September 2025 fact sheet against Oracle's January 2026 page.
Sources: Lancium (18 July 2024), Crusoe financing release (15 October 2024), Oracle and OpenAI fact sheet (23 September 2025), Crusoe (30 September 2025 and 27 March 2026) and Oracle (as of January 2026).
Where is the Abilene data center?
The Stargate data center is on the Lancium Clean Campus outside Abilene, in Taylor County, Texas (Lancium, 18 July 2024). Lancium assembled the land and the power connection; Crusoe owns, develops and operates the data center, and began building it in June 2024.
Search for an Abilene data center and you will find three projects, often run together:
- The Stargate flagship: eight buildings on 1,100 acres, built by Crusoe and run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for OpenAI. This guide is about this campus.
- A Microsoft campus next door: 900 MW in two buildings, announced by Crusoe on 27 March 2026, with land clearing under way and the first building due in mid-2027. It is not one of the eight.
- Vantage's Frontier campus: another Stargate site, in neighbouring Shackelford County: 10 buildings on 700 acres, with the first due in the second half of 2026, according to the Oracle and OpenAI fact sheet of September 2025.
What is Stargate building in Abilene?
Eight data center buildings, in the companies' latest descriptions. The project has been described in several ways as it grew, and the statements do not always agree.
| What was said | Who, when | |
|---|---|---|
| First phase | 200 MW, expanding across 1.2 GW | Crusoe and Lancium, 18 Jul 2024 |
| First project | 206 MW, 998,000 sq ft, two buildings | Crusoe, Blue Owl and Primary Digital, 15 Oct 2024 |
| Campus | Eight buildings, 1,100 acres, up to about 4m sq ft | Oracle and OpenAI, 23 Sep 2025 |
| Buildings running | One building up and running | Oracle and OpenAI, 23 Sep 2025 |
| Buildings energised | The first two | Crusoe, 30 Sep 2025 |
| Expansion nearby | A potential further 600 MW | Oracle and OpenAI, 23 Sep 2025 |
| Campus power | 1.2 GW across eight buildings by end-2026 | Crusoe, 27 Mar 2026 |
| Per building | 100 MW of IT load, four halls of 25 MW | DPR, undated project page |
| Estimated operating | 0.3 GW, four of eight buildings | Epoch AI, 23 Apr 2026 |
| A different count | 10 data centers being built | Larry Ellison, as Wikipedia reports |
The one-building and two-building statements were made a week apart in September 2025 and do not match. Both are claims, and neither can be checked from orbit, because a building is roofed long before it is switched on. Sources: Crusoe, 30 September 2025, DPR, Epoch AI and Wikipedia.
The Abilene build, pass by pass
Company statements and our own readings of the pictures, in date order. Use the filters to see one or the other.
26 Jul 2022
Scrub pasture
A USDA aerial photograph shows the site before construction: pasture and ranch roads.
Pictures21 Feb 2024
No construction
The Sentinel-2 pass shows untouched scrub across the frame.
Pictures5 Jun 2024
First cleared ground
A small cleared patch appears where the first buildings will stand. Crusoe later said construction began in June 2024.
Pictures18 Jul 2024
200 MW, expanding to 1.2 GW
Crusoe and Lancium announce the first phase on the Lancium Clean Campus, to be energised in 2025.
Statements10 Sep 2024
A pad and two footprints
A graded pad with the outlines of two buildings.
Pictures15 Oct 2024
$3.4 billion for the first two buildings
Crusoe, Blue Owl and Primary Digital Infrastructure fund a 206 MW, two-building project, leased to an unnamed Fortune 100 hyperscale tenant.
Statements29 Dec 2024
Two buildings roofed
Both buildings of the first phase are under roofs.
Pictures27 Mar 2025
A second pad
A large area south of the first buildings is graded, with building pads on it by late April.
PicturesJun 2025
First chips
Oracle begins delivering NVIDIA GB200 racks, according to Crusoe and OpenAI.
Statements9 Aug 2025
Six more buildings framed
Four buildings in a row and two to the west, with walls up and roofs in progress.
Pictures23 Sep 2025
Eight buildings, one running
Oracle and OpenAI say one building is up and running, seven more are due by mid-2026, and a further 600 MW may follow nearby.
Statements30 Sep 2025
Two buildings energised
Crusoe says the first two buildings are energised and the campus is running early training and inference workloads.
Statements27 Dec 2025
Six more roofed
The row of four and the western pair are roofed, with equipment rows along them.
Pictures26 Mar 2026
All eight halls roofed
Eight roofed halls stand in three groups, and new ground has been cleared to the south.
Pictures27 Mar 2026
1.2 GW, and a campus for Microsoft
Crusoe says the eight-building campus will reach 1.2 GW by the end of 2026, and announces a separate 900 MW, two-building campus for Microsoft, with land clearing under way.
Statements23 Apr 2026
Four of eight operational, estimated
Epoch AI estimates about 0.3 GW in operation, rising to 1.2 GW by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Estimates4 Nov 2026
Yards fitted out, new buildings to the south
Equipment rows line the eight halls, and large buildings are rising on the ground cleared south of them since spring.
Pictures
Then and now: the Abilene site from orbit
In the November 2026 pass the eight halls stand in three groups: two to the north, four in a row through the middle and two to the west, each with the repeating rooftop pattern of a data hall and rows of equipment beside it. South of them, buildings are rising on ground first cleared in March 2026.
- What the picture shows: ground, walls, roofs, yards, roads and car parks, at 10 metres per pixel.
- What it cannot show: whether a hall is switched on, how many chips are inside, or how much of the 1.2 GW has been delivered.
- How often: a clear pass most weeks in West Texas; this guide uses the clearest one in each quarter.
Power, water and jobs, as stated
Every figure below is a claim, with whose it is and when it was made. Where two sources disagree, both are shown.
| Claim | Who, when | |
|---|---|---|
| Grid | Connects directly to the ERCOT grid | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| On-site power | GE Vernova gas turbines, for backup | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| Renewables | Nearby wind; possible on-site solar | Financing release, Oct 2024 |
| Cooling | Closed-loop, non-evaporative liquid cooling | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| Water, fact sheet | About 12,625 gallons per building a year | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| Water, Oracle's page | Roughly 50,000 gallons per building a year | Oracle, as of Jan 2026 |
| Construction workers | More than 6,400 on site every day | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| Permanent jobs, early | Almost 100 local jobs | Financing release, Oct 2024 |
| Permanent jobs, later | Nearly 1,700, campus and expansion | Oracle and OpenAI, Sep 2025 |
| Local economy | Nearly $1 billion over 20 years | Development Corporation of Abilene, as cited Oct 2024 |
| Property tax | Up to 32% of the city's budgeted levy | Crusoe, Mar 2026, for the first eight buildings |
| GPUs per building | Up to 100,000 | Crusoe, Jul 2024 |
| GPUs, whole campus | Hundreds of thousands | Crusoe, Sep 2025 |
Crusoe's property-tax line refers to the city of Abilene's 2025 budgeted property-tax revenue, and up to 25% of Taylor County's (Crusoe, 27 March 2026). Texas Standard quoted a local official on an 85% property tax break over 10 years (Texas Standard). Oracle's page says it is current as of January 2026 and will not be updated (Oracle).
Who owns and runs the Abilene data center?
- Crusoe builds, owns and operates the data center (Lancium, July 2024).
- Lancium assembled the land and the power connection for the Lancium Clean Campus.
- Blue Owl and Primary Digital Infrastructure funded the first two buildings through a $3.4 billion joint venture (Crusoe, October 2024).
- Oracle runs Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in the buildings, and OpenAI calls the campus the flagship of Stargate (OpenAI).
- Microsoft is the customer for the separate 900 MW campus Crusoe announced next door in March 2026.
Stargate itself, the venture of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, and its other sites are covered in the AI data center guide.
Abilene data center: questions and answers
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