Galaxy Digital has acquired about 500 acres in McGregor, Texas, to build its second major AI and high-performance computing data center campus in the state, following its large Helios facility in West Texas.
The project, developed with the City of McGregor and local partners, starts with an initial 74 MW phase expected to receive power in 2028 and could expand to multi-hundred megawatts by 2030, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
Galaxy (GLXY) said the new plot will support a "privately funded campus," including a private substation. "This is intended to insulate rate payers from costs associated with electrical infrastructure required to support the campus development," the company wrote.
Likewise, arguing the data center will be a boon to McGregor’s community, Galaxy expects the project will add a minimum of $130 million to the local tax base.
"We've spent the last several years proving in Dickens County that a privately funded data center can be a real, long-term partner to a rural community, adding to the tax base, funding local infrastructure, and creating jobs," Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said. "McGregor is the next step in our strategy to build a disciplined, multi-campus data center business."
Data center developments continue
The move comes amid a continuing wave of data center development to support the growing AI sector. Nearly every U.S.-based bitcoin miner has begun converting at least some of their existing infrastructure to serve AI clients and investing in new builds and expansions.
Galaxy, for one, purchased its bitcoin mining Helios campus in 2022 and has since pivoted toward HPC and AI. Texas’ state-authorized power supplier ERCOT recently approved Galaxy’s plan to expand Helios to 1.63 GW of capacity, which has been leased by CoreWeave for 15 years.
Last week, mining media reported that Galaxy is planning to raise about $3.5 billion from a debut junk-bond sale to fund Helios’ Phase II expansion, supporting CoreWeave’s contract.
“The demand for compute is a structural shift, not a passing cycle, and we believe the right way to meet it is by building infrastructure that strengthens the communities that host it,” Novogratz said.
Core Scientific, which has also contracted roughly 590 MW of compute for CoreWeave across multiple sites, said Tuesday that AMD will secure more than 500 MW of its capacity beginning in 2027, with room to scale to 2.5 GW.
Also on Tuesday, FT reported that Nvidia has signed leases worth up to $50 billion for Hut 8's (HUT) 1 GW Beacon Point campus in Texas.
Data centers have become politically controversial, with some critics pointing to the potential for water and noise pollution as well as rising electricity costs for nearby residents, among other concerns. Earlier this month, New York became the first state to pass a temporary data center moratorium prohibiting new construction for one year.
Supporters note data center construction creates construction jobs for the duration of the build and continues to contribute to the local tax base.
GLXY is down over 9% at publication time to $20.63, according to The Block's data, as other mining stocks dip. IREN is down over 6.6%, HUT over 7%, and WULF over 8%, according to The Block's crypto stocks page. Coinbase (COIN) and bitcoin, something of a bellwether asset, are both down over 2%.