Google and Blackstone JV Hit by Delays Across US Data Center Projects

Google and Blackstone's joint venture, known internally as Project Braid, is encountering setbacks at several of its data center sites across the United States, even as executives insist the partnership remains on track to meet its ambitious capacity targets.

The joint venture was formed in May 2026, with Google and Blackstone planning to launch a new cloud platform built around Google's Tensor Processing Units. Blackstone committed $5 billion in equity capital from its funds, and the two partners aim to bring 500MW of capacity online by 2027, with plans to expand further over time. The initiative represents one of the most significant pairings of hyperscale compute demand with private capital in the data center sector, underscoring the intensifying race to build AI-ready infrastructure.

Among the projects affected by delays is a data center under development in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The site was originally being pursued by Crusoe as a 1.8GW campus with the potential to scale to 10GW. In June, Crusoe said it had paused work on the site "at the request of our customer," and Google took over the project the following month. According to Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources, the transition occurred after Google lost confidence in Crusoe's ability to deliver the project. The project has since been scaled down. The exact reasons behind the loss of confidence and the current scope of the scaled-back development have not been independently verified.

Another potential project site was deemed unsuitable due to incompatible transformer equipment, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to freeze new projects in the state has added a further obstacle to the venture's site selection efforts. Despite these challenges, the joint venture has identified approximately 29 potential data center locations, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Benjamin Treynor Sloss, CEO of the joint venture, struck an optimistic tone regarding the partnership's trajectory. "We are making strong progress building out our infrastructure and are fully on track to deliver on our 500MW target in 2027," he said. "Given higher-than-expected demand for our compute capacity, we are actively expanding our pipeline to evaluate a broader pool of sites to support our long-term scaling plans. It is very common for individual potential sites to progress at different rates and we had always factored that into our planning, which is why we have a diversified set of options."

The delays highlight the logistical and regulatory hurdles facing even the best-capitalized players in the data center industry, where surging demand for AI compute capacity has collided with supply chain constraints, equipment shortages, and shifting local policies. For Google and Blackstone, the ability to navigate these obstacles will be critical as they seek to establish a competitive position in the rapidly evolving cloud and AI infrastructure landscape. The venture's diversified site pipeline may provide some cushion against individual project setbacks, but the Cheyenne situation in particular raises questions about the execution risks inherent in repurposing or rescuing projects originally developed by third parties.