Crusoe Gets $700M Facility to Fund AI Power Kit

Crusoe has agreed a $700 million financing facility with Neuberger Specialty Finance (NBSF) to pay for gas generators that will power its AI data centres directly, without drawing that power from the grid, the two companies said on Wednesday.

The facility “is secured by recently ordered power generation equipment”, according to their joint announcement. The generators will supply behind-the-meter power to data centres that Crusoe builds and owns, which it calls “AI factories”. Neither company disclosed the interest rate, the term, the equipment supplier or how much generating capacity the money will buy.

The loan is secured on the generators, not the data centres

The structure is the notable part. NBSF is the asset-based lending arm of Neuberger. It is lending against the power equipment itself, so the generators serve as collateral much as aircraft do in an aircraft lease.

“NBSF recognizes the value of our power equipment and the mission-critical role it plays in scaling our power solutions,” said Charlie Tudor, director of capital markets at Crusoe. He said the facility “lets us secure long-lead power generation assets aligned with development timelines”.

Sean Hinze, a managing director at NBSF, said the lender sees “significant value in the power generation assets supporting Crusoe’s growth, especially as behind-the-meter power becomes increasingly important to the AI buildout”.

Crusoe is stacking debt on top of a $3.9bn equity round

The facility follows Crusoe’s $3.9 billion Series F in September, which valued the company at $30.9 billion post-money, according to the release. Crusoe says it has more than 6 gigawatts of gross AI infrastructure capacity under contract across its data centres and cloud platform. It names Microsoft, Google, Oracle and OpenAI’s Stargate initiative as customers.

Equipment-backed and credit financing is a familiar tool for the company. In June 2025, Crusoe announced a $750 million credit facility from Brookfield to fund AI factory development. That release also listed a $225 million facility from Upper90 and a $15 billion joint venture with Blue Owl and Primary Digital Infrastructure for a 1.2-gigawatt campus in Abilene, Texas.

For Neuberger, the deal extends its asset-based lending into digital infrastructure and power generation. The release says the NBSF group has invested more than $16 billion through 80 origination partners since 2018 and now manages over $5 billion across more than 50 portfolio companies.

Generators have become bankable collateral

The interesting signal is that a specialist lender will treat gas generators for data centres as a financeable asset class in their own right. That only works if the lender believes the kit keeps its value even if a given AI project slips, because turbines and reciprocating engines can be moved and resold. It also matches the reality that power, not chips, is now often the long-lead item in data-centre construction. Tudor’s reference to “long-lead” assets says as much.

Behind-the-meter gas is spreading fast. TSN has covered Enerflex’s contract for more than 1GW of on-site gas power, Venture Global’s frame agreements for up to 16 gas-fired power islands, and President Trump’s claim that big data centres are “mandated by me” to make their own power, though no order has yet been issued. The fight over who pays for AI’s power is part of the same story.

There are trade-offs. On-site gas skips the grid queue but brings local emissions and permitting questions, and it ties the operator to gas prices. This facility is explicitly for gas generators, so its climate footprint depends on how long they run and whether they are later replaced.

The undisclosed number that matters most is how many megawatts $700 million of generators will actually deliver.