Crusoe in Talks for Potential 100MW Data Center Project in Virginia’s Franklin County

Crusoe, the AI infrastructure company formerly known for its crypto-mining operations, is reportedly in discussions with officials in Franklin County, Virginia, to develop a data center project dubbed "Project Flash." The development, which could be located at the county-owned Summit View Business Park, is expected to have a capacity ranging from 50MW to 100MW and would span approximately 150 acres.

Local media outlets including WDBJ, 10News, and the Roanoke Times first reported the news, which was uncovered through freedom of information requests filed with Franklin County. The county, located in southwest Virginia just south of Roanoke, has acknowledged receiving inquiries from citizens about economic development opportunities but has not confirmed details regarding Project Flash or Crusoe’s involvement.

In a public statement, Franklin County said it is “committed to encouraging responsible economic growth that creates employment opportunities, strengthens the local tax base, and supports public services while protecting the quality of life that makes Franklin County a desirable place to live, work, and raise a family.” The county added that it will provide information to the public whenever it can be legally shared, and that any project requiring public hearings will follow Virginia law.

Summit View Business Park, which spans 540 acres along US 220, already has grid and natural gas infrastructure in place. Franklin County began acquiring land for the park in 2016. Crusoe, which launched in 2018 as a crypto-mining firm, has since pivoted to developing AI data centers and offering AI cloud services. It divested its crypto operations in March 2025.

Beyond the potential Virginia project, Crusoe has an extensive development pipeline. The company is planning a 1.8GW campus in Wyoming, two sites in Missouri, and natural gas-powered data centers in Alberta, Canada. It recently stepped back from a project in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but has been named as a potential partner for a project in Nebraska. In February 2026, Crusoe announced it would deploy modular data centers at Energy Vault’s technology center in Snyder, Texas, with an initial deployment expected to scale up to 25MW. Just this week, the firm revealed plans for a gigawatt-scale campus in Childress, Texas.

Crusoe launched a GPU cloud service from colocation facilities in 2023 and now operates five cloud regions across the US (Houston, Virginia, Nevada) and Europe (Iceland, Norway). It has partnered with Digital Realty and Equinix in the US, atNorth in Iceland, Polar in Norway, and Anan Group and Mega Or in Israel. The company recently stated that it has contracted 4.9GW of AI infrastructure spanning its data center projects and Crusoe Cloud, with a total development pipeline exceeding 40GW.