Galaxy Digital has acquired approximately 500 acres in McGregor, Texas, to construct its second major artificial intelligence and high-performance computing data center campus in the state. Announced on Tuesday, the development is being launched in partnership with the City of McGregor and local stakeholders. The initial 74-megawatt phase is slated to come online in 2028, with long-term plans allowing the facility to expand into a multi-hundred-megawatt campus by 2030.
The firm disclosed that the project will be a privately funded campus equipped with its own dedicated power substation, a structural choice intended to insulate local utility ratepayers from the infrastructure costs required to support the facility. Galaxy projects the venture will bolster McGregor’s local tax base by a minimum of $130 million. Chief Executive Officer Mike Novogratz highlighted the project as the next phase in the company’s multi-campus expansion strategy, pointing to prior successes in Dickens County as proof that private data center developments can deliver sustained economic benefits, infrastructure funding, and jobs to rural regions.
The McGregor site underscores a widespread shift across the digital asset sector, where former bitcoin mining operators are retooling facilities and securing new acreage to support the surging demand for AI compute. Galaxy previously acquired the Helios mining campus in West Texas in 2022 and subsequently pivoted the facility toward high-performance computing, recently securing approval from grid operator ERCOT to expand Helios to 1.63 gigawatts under a 15-year lease agreement with CoreWeave. To fund the second phase of the Helios expansion, reports indicate Galaxy is preparing a debut junk-bond offering seeking to raise approximately $3.5 billion.
The news comes during a massive wave of capital deployment in Texas, highlighted by recent multi-gigawatt hosting agreements signed between crypto miners and tech behemoths such as AMD and Nvidia. However, the rapid expansion of energy-intensive computing centers has sparked public debate over environmental impacts and potential strain on power grids, prompting New York State to pass a temporary one-year moratorium on new data center construction earlier this month. Following the announcement, Galaxy shares slid over 9% to $20.63 amid broader market headwinds affecting crypto mining stocks and benchmark digital assets.
