Google-Blackstone TPU Neocloud Launches as Crux AI, Hires Meta's Data Center Engineering Head Alan Duong

The neocloud venture established by Google and Blackstone to deliver TPU-based cloud services has officially launched under the name Crux AI, marking a significant new entrant into the rapidly expanding market for AI-optimized data center infrastructure. The company is led by CEO Benjamin Treynor Sloss, a former Google engineering vice president, and is backed by $5 billion in funding from Blackstone.

In a major leadership coup, Crux AI this week appointed Alan Duong as its chief development officer. Duong spent more than 12 years at Meta, most recently serving as vice president and head of data center engineering and construction. During his tenure at Meta, he played a pivotal role in the company's aggressive pivot toward AI data centers. In 2023, Meta paused all of its in-development facilities, and Duong led the team that redesigned those projects specifically for the AI era. At Crux AI, Duong will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of multiple gigawatts of data center capacity over the coming years.

Reflecting on his transition, Duong emphasized the importance of an integrated approach to infrastructure development. "I spent the last 12 years at Meta building data centers, and the clearest lesson from that time is that success in this business isn't one thing done well. It's a chain that has to hold, end-to-end: originating sites with real power and real runway, showing up in host communities as a long-term neighbor rather than a transaction, designing for efficient use of power, water and materials, building safely with the trades who put the steel in the ground, and handing over facilities that operators can run for decades. Break any link and the rest doesn't save you. That end-to-end view is what I'm bringing to Crux AI, and what we'll build the organization around as we scale."

Crux AI has outlined ambitious capacity targets, planning to bring 500MW of data center capacity online in 2027 and ultimately scale to 2GW per year. The company's data centers will encompass a mixture of powered shells, build-to-suits, colocation blocks, turnkey partner deals, and first-party greenfield development, giving it flexibility across different deployment models as it ramps up operations.

Treynor Sloss framed the venture as a response to a generational shift in computing. "AI presents a generational technological shift and, with it, the opportunity to reimagine the infrastructure powering it from the ground up," he said. "That is what we are building at Crux AI: an integrated platform designed end-to-end to operate reliably at enormous scale. Our ambition is to become the infrastructure company trusted with the workloads that matter most."

The company, which hired the CFO of Charter Communications earlier this year, is now planning a major hiring spree. It currently has 17 open positions, including roles such as data center construction manager, data center energy manager, head of data center operations, lead supply negotiator, and vice president of capital markets, signaling an aggressive buildout of both its operational and financial teams.

The launch of Crux AI underscores the intensifying competition in the AI infrastructure space, where hyperscalers and specialized neoclouds are racing to secure power, land, and engineering talent. With Google's TPU technology at its core and Blackstone's substantial financial backing, Crux AI is positioning itself as a vertically integrated platform capable of serving the most demanding AI workloads. The addition of a veteran like Duong, who oversaw Meta's data center redesign for AI, signals that the company intends to compete at the highest level of data center development and operations.