Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is moving into the AI and knowledge middle race along with his new startup, and he’s betting on rural West Texas and a failed railroad turned oil big to assist him construct sufficient energy to mild up 7 million houses.
Schmidt’s new Bolt Knowledge & Vitality is taking the one-stop store strategy for hyperscalers’ land, energy, and water wants for his or her knowledge middle campuses. Bolt has teamed up with Texas Pacific Land, a little-known oil and fuel participant with a protracted historical past and a $20 billion market cap that occurs to supply 882,000 acres of West Texas land—extra acreage than Rhode Island—with easy accessibility to pure fuel and renewable vitality sources. Oh, and the corporate simply so occurs to have its personal water providers enterprise for oil and fuel that may translate to assist for thirsty knowledge facilities as effectively.
“Vitality is the primary constraint in scaling AI. If we wish to maintain America aggressive, we’ve to unravel this drawback. Bolt was created to deal with this problem,” Schmidt mentioned in an emailed interview with Fortune. “We realized that combining my technical experience with TPL’s unmatched land, considerable water, and entry to low-cost vitality may create the infrastructure wanted to satisfy the just about infinite demand for compute.”
Having actually co-authored the guide on AI—The Age of AI: And Our Human Future, in 2021, a 12 months earlier than the launch of ChatGPT—Schmidt sees the age of AI and superior robotics because the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” He believes knowledge middle campus builders comparable to Bolt are essential to compete with China within the international AI race.
“Our platform begins with West Texas’ considerable pure fuel however is designed to transition to renewable and clear vitality, with nuclear energy additionally included in future plans,” Schmidt mentioned. “By integrating land, energy technology, and knowledge facilities, we are able to create a scalable, resilient infrastructure able to assembly the rising international demand for compute. Our objective is to make sure AI develops responsibly, helps American competitiveness, and delivers expertise that advantages humanity whereas minimizing local weather influence.”
Schmidt, 70, served as Google’s CEO for a decade, from 2001 to 2011, after which continued as government chairman of Google after which Alphabet by 2017 and as technical advisor till 2020. He’s stayed lots busy since, although. He’s additionally now the CEO of aerospace producer Comparatively House, and cofounder of the non-profit that organizes the AI+ Expo for Nationwide Competitiveness.
Schmidt is the chairman of Bolt, and he cofounded it with Buyers Todd Meister and Allan Tessler, who’s a serious investor in Texas Pacific Land. So far, Bolt has raised $150 million in preliminary capital, with TPL contributing a $50 million funding, together with proper of first refusal to provide important water sources to the brand new knowledge middle tasks.
“We felt like we needed to seize extra of the worth chain than only a land lease or a water contract, in order that’s why we really invested in Bolt,” Texas Pacific Land CEO Ty Glover advised Fortune. “Once you’re who you may wish to companion with in an area that you just’re not an professional in, then who higher than a titan of that business like Eric Schmidt.”
West Texas as an AI epicenter
To grasp how Texas Pacific Land got here by such a large acreage holding, it helps to look again at its historical past of greater than 150 years.
The legacy dates to 1871, when a federal constitution was granted to construct a nationwide railroad from Texas to California. On the time, railroad corporations obtained federal land grants in trade for laying tracks.
The railroad failed for a wide range of monetary causes, however it resulted within the formation of the Texas Pacific Land Belief to handle the railroad’s acreage. That acreage grew to become fairly priceless when the Texas oil increase took maintain within the Permian Basin greater than a century in the past.
Texas Pacific has been publicly traded for nearly 100 years, however it existed as a sleepy belief amassing oil and fuel royalties till 2021, when an investor feud resulted within the belief changing into a way more proactive company.
“Coming from a failed railroad to a gorilla within the oil and fuel area and now getting into the AI area is thrilling. It’s a brand new frontier for us and for West Texas,” Glover mentioned.
As legacy knowledge middle areas like Virginia get saturated with services, the frontier areas comparable to West Texas are going be extra enticing, Glover mentioned, with simpler regulatory environments and extra sparse populations.
“Our hope is we’re transferring grime on tasks inside the subsequent couple of years,” he mentioned. “What’s enticing about TPL is we are able to actually scale this. You may construct a number of, multi-gig knowledge middle campuses with one proprietor. Identical to in different industries, scale actually issues right here.”
Schmidt mentioned Bolt plans to start out with one anchor buyer and develop from there. He name-dropped many potential anchors: Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Oracle, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Palantir, and even the White Home’s new Genesis Mission for AI.
Bolt is taking a bespoke strategy much like that of Texas-based AI energy startup Fermi, backed by former U.S. vitality secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry. Fermi launched an IPO in October earlier than it had even began amassing income and rapidly surged to a $16 billion market cap, although its worth has since plunged to $5 billion on the finish of 2025. Nevertheless, Bolt is staying non-public and never banking on public investor curiosity within the AI increase.
The plan is to start out with pure gas-fired energy and develop to 1 gigawatt capability, Schmidt mentioned, then construct extra campuses as the ability technology sources increase to incorporate wind, photo voltaic, and battery energy and, ultimately, nuclear energy over time. The objective is to develop to 10 gigawatts of energy—sufficient to impress about 7 million houses—on Texas Pacific Land acreage.
“We’re taking a unique strategy from conventional knowledge middle fashions that lease area and purchase energy from the grid. By vertically integrating vitality possession with superior knowledge infrastructure, we are able to design a platform that’s each environment friendly and resilient,” Schmidt mentioned.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
