Lancium Childress data center, Childress, Texas

Crusoe and Lancium announced on July 15, 2026 a 1-gigawatt AI data center campus on 270 acres Lancium owns in Childress, Childress County, Texas, with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026. Under the partnership, Lancium owns the land, secures the power interconnection and manages the energy, while Crusoe designs, builds and operates the data center for what the companies call "a leading hyperscale technology company."

Previous reports suggest Meta is set to lease capacity at the site from Crusoe, Data Center Dynamics reported. The companies say the grid-connected campus will add behind-the-meter solar and battery storage and use a closed-loop, non-evaporative liquid cooling system to limit water use. They say it will create thousands of construction jobs and more than 100 permanent positions in Childress County, and that they will invest directly in local water and other civil infrastructure and support housing, education and emergency services.

It is the second campus the pair are building together, after their Abilene site, which Crusoe built for OpenAI via Oracle. "Working with Lancium again, in the same partnership model we built together in Abilene, made Childress an easy choice for our next site," said Chase Lochmiller, Crusoe's co-founder and chief executive. Lancium chief executive Michael McNamara said the companies are "deeply committed to working with local stakeholders to advance a model of development that addresses the broader needs of the community."

Childress already hosts a data center campus from Iren, a former crypto miner, which is being leased to Microsoft. In the same week as the Childress announcement, Lancium said QTS will develop an 11-building campus at another Lancium site near Turkey, in Hall County. The announcement landed as Panhandle towns were weighing limits: in May and June, Amarillo, Childress, Clarendon and Quanah discussed possible moratoriums on data center development, and on new water meter connections, amid worries about the region's scarce water.

Construction was due to start in the third quarter of 2026, but the state has since slowed new projects: on September 21, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits for data centers until state audits of their power and water use are complete.