Crusoe CEO: Why Everyone Gets GPU Depreciation & AI Energy Costs Wrong
Oct 3, 2026 · 1:05:02
Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller tells Harry Stebbings that data centers lower energy prices, use almost no water, and that most moats in AI are an illusion. He explains Crusoe's pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure, accelerated by ChatGPT's November 30, 2022 launch, and how Crusoe built Abilene's first 200-megawatt buildings in one year when 34 competitors bid two and a half years, vertically integrating electrical manufacturing to cut a 100-week power distribution lead time to 28 weeks. He names energy and skilled labor as the true bottlenecks, concedes 50% of planned data centers may never be built, and frames Crusoe's three products—data centers, GPUs, and tokens—through an 'AI super major' analogy to Exxon's vertically integrated hedge. On GPU depreciation, he argues six-year cycles underestimate H100s, whose rates today exceed launch pricing, defends take-or-pay rental contracts, and predicts closed models capture more dollars while open models generate more tokens.
