Battery Storage Firm Energy Vault Breaks Ground on West Texas AI Campus for Crusoe

• Snyder AI Campus in Snyder, Texas, is being developed by Energy Vault for Crusoe Cloud, with the first 8 MW phase targeted for commercial operations in Q1 2027.
• The initial deployment will use 10 modular Crusoe Spark data center units, with a planned second phase expanding capacity to 25 MW.
• Energy Vault says the site is designed for potential long-term expansion to 500 MW, positioning the project as part of its broader AI infrastructure strategy.

What Energy Vault Is Building In Snyder

Energy Vault has broken ground on Snyder AI, a modular data center campus in West Texas designed to deliver computing infrastructure for Crusoe Cloud. Construction began in July 2026, with crews preparing the site, installing fiber and building the electrical infrastructure needed to support the first deployment. The project marks Energy Vault's expansion from energy storage into AI computing infrastructure. Rather than constructing a conventional large data center building, the company is using prefabricated modular units designed to bring capacity online in phases. 

What The 8 MW First Phase Includes

The initial phase will provide 8 MW of powered-shell capacity through 10 Crusoe Spark modular data center units. The units are designed to support AI workloads, including inference and other computing services offered through Crusoe Cloud. The campus will integrate electrical distribution, N+1 power redundancy and battery energy storage systems. The modular approach allows infrastructure to be deployed incrementally instead of waiting for a larger campus to be completed in full. Commercial operations are targeted for the first quarter of 2027. A second phase is planned to expand capacity to 25 MW during 2027, subject to the project schedule. 

What The Energy Vault And Crusoe Agreement Means

The companies' commercial arrangement separates ownership of physical infrastructure from cloud operations. Energy Vault will purchase the 10 Crusoe Spark units and lease them back to Crusoe as powered infrastructure, while Crusoe operates its cloud computing services. For Energy Vault, the structure creates an opportunity to generate recurring revenue from owned infrastructure assets. For Crusoe, it provides a path to deploy computing capacity without taking on ownership of all the underlying infrastructure. The agreement was announced in February 2026 and outlined phased deployments of up to 25 MW at Energy Vault's Snyder technology center.  

What The Campus Could Mean For West Texas

Snyder AI's initial 8 MW capacity is modest compared with proposed gigawatt-scale Texas data center campuses, but its phased model reflects a key industry priority: getting usable power and computing capacity online faster. Energy Vault says the site is designed for potential expansion to 500 MW over time. That is a long-term capacity target, not the size of the currently contracted first phase. For commercial real estate and infrastructure investors, the project highlights how data center development increasingly depends on power availability, electrical infrastructure and flexible deployment strategies, alongside land and buildings.

What Comes Next For Snyder AI

Construction and utility work will continue ahead of the planned deployment of Crusoe Spark units. If the schedule holds, the first 8 MW phase will begin commercial operations in Q1 2027, followed by a planned expansion to 25 MW. Snyder AI offers a clear example of how energy infrastructure companies are positioning themselves to serve rising AI computing demand through modular facilities and phased investment.