Crusoe enters Israel with high-stakes infrastructure bet
Crusoe has stepped into Israel’s rapidly intensifying AI infrastructure race through a major agreement with Anan Data Center. The deal commits Anan to deliver 40MW of AI-optimized capacity, marking Crusoe’s formal entry into the market. Industry estimates place the contract’s value in the hundreds of millions of dollars, signaling a long-horizon investment rather than a tactical deployment. The move positions Israel as a new node in Crusoe’s expanding global compute fabric.
“We view Anan as a central and highly strategic partner for our operations in Israel,” Crusoe said in a statement shared with the publication. “As part of our regional expansion, we are working to deepen our local presence through specialized teams, guided by a long-term perspective that positions Israel as a key hub in the global AI landscape. In this context, Anan serves as our leading local partner.”
Afula emerges as the operational core
The agreement centers on Anan’s Afula data center, a site currently under construction and designed for scale. The facility will deliver up to 100MW at full build-out, with Crusoe’s initial 40MW allocation forming the anchor load. Developers have planned a hybrid structure with one underground level and three above-ground floors, covering roughly 30,000 square meters. Located about an hour from Tel Aviv, the site balances proximity to talent hubs with infrastructure scalability.
This configuration reflects a broader shift toward purpose-built AI campuses rather than retrofitted enterprise facilities. Operators now prioritize power density, thermal headroom, and expansion pathways from day one. Crusoe’s early commitment gives it both capacity, certainty and influence over how the site evolves. The Afula deployment may become a template for future regional builds.
Anan builds a multi-site AI infrastructure platform
Anan has framed the Crusoe partnership as the opening move in a larger ambition to export AI infrastructure capabilities from Israel. The company is already advancing a second facility, Tzora, positioned between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. That site will deliver approximately 32MW across 24,000 square meters, adding geographic diversity to its portfolio. Together, the projects signal a coordinated push toward national-scale capacity aggregation.
“We welcome the agreement with Crusoe and view them as a long-term strategic partner moving forward,” Anan added. “This collaboration represents an initial step in a broader initiative to establish a global AI infrastructure platform from Israel to the world.”
Founded in 2022, Anan brings together CEO Maor Maloul, artist-entrepreneur Omer Adam, and investor Nissim Shriel-Gaon. Ownership remains concentrated, with Shriel-Gaon holding roughly half the company and the other founders maintaining significant stakes. In November 2025, Battery Global Advisors acquired a 20 percent stake, adding institutional backing to Anan’s expansion strategy. The company targets a 500MW national footprint through additional undisclosed sites.
Crusoe scales global compute with hybrid strategy
Crusoe operates at the intersection of infrastructure development and cloud service delivery. The company builds and leases data centers while also offering its own cloud stack, giving it flexibility across deployment models. Its current footprint spans four regions across the United States and Europe, including us-northcentral1-a, us-east1-a, us-southcentral1-a, and eu-iceland1-a. Partnerships with major operators such as Digital Realty, Equinix, and atNorth complement its owned assets.The company continues to expand aggressively, with a pipeline totaling 3.4GW and nearly 10 million square feet of data center space. Its Abilene, Texas campus already supports OpenAI and will soon serve Microsoft, underscoring its role in hyperscale AI workloads. Crusoe also develops modular edge systems through its “Crusoe Spark” units, manufactured in Colorado. Meanwhile, the Israel entry adds geographic diversification and positions the company closer to emerging AI demand corridors.
