Cryptomine and data center firm Galaxy Digital looks set to develop its second campus in Texas.
Local press, including KWTX and the Waco Tribune-Herald, report Galaxy has entered into an agreement with McGregor to acquire land in the city’s industrial park for a data center campus.
McGregor is a city located southwest of Waco, in McLennan and Coryell counties.
At a council meeting this week, the company is said it is aiming to develop on 500 acres on land near SpaceX’s rocket test and development facility, investing some $400 million to develop as many as eight buildings.
The site – known as Project Merlin – will use closed-loop cooling systems to reduce water usage.
Galaxy has promised to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades.
This would be Galaxy’s second data center campus. Its Helios campus is some 300 miles northwest of McGregor in Dickens County.
After breaking ground in July 2021, the 160-acre Helios campus started cryptomining operations in May 2022. Galaxy acquired the data center from Argo Blockchain in late 2022 for approximately $65 million. As part of the deal, the two companies signed a two-year hosting deal.
Last year, CoreWeave committed to leasing what was at the time the full 800MW of approved capacity at the Helios campus, which will generate an average annual revenue of more than $1 billion over the 15-year term of the agreement.
Construction is underway to support the first phase of Helios under Galaxy's long-term lease agreement with CoreWeave, and the first data halls have been handed over.
With CoreWeave set to take over the Helios campus, Galaxy Digital is moving its mining operations elsewhere, having signed a 48MW contract at Soluna's Project Kati data center in Texas.
Galaxy says that the 1,500-acre campus has the potential to eventually support up to 3.5GW of power.