Microsoft partners with Chevron, Engine No. 1

Microsoft, Chevron and investment fund Engine No. 1 have entered into an exclusivity agreement for power ​generation and supply, the three companies said.

Technology companies, ‌including Microsoft, are rushing to secure electricity supply for their rapidly expanding data centers that would power generative artificial ​intelligence services such as ChatGPT and Copilot.

“No commercial ​terms have been finalized, and there is no ⁠definitive agreement at this time,” the three companies ​said in a statement.

Chevron and Engine No. 1 had ​already announced a partnership last year to build natural gas-based power plants next to data centers in the US, with the two ​planning to use turbines by electric services company ​GE Vernova.

The deal with Microsoft, said the ‌long-term ⁠agreement is tied to a proposed natural gas-fired power plant in West Texas, with a projected cost of roughly $7 billion.

The facility would initially generate 2,500 megawatts of electricity, ​intended to power ​a large ⁠data center campus.

Chevron had in November said its first project to ​power an AI data center using natural ​gas will ⁠be built in West Texas with the goal of start-up by 2027.

Microsoft has agreed to rent a data center ⁠project ​in Texas that was originally ​being developed for Oracle and OpenAI. Reuters