Podcast Summary: Inevitable (an MCJ Podcast)
Episode: Crusoe CEO and Co-founder, Chase Lochmiller: Live Special at MCJ Summit
Date: October 29, 2025
Host: Cody Simms
Guest: Chase Lochmiller, CEO and Co-founder of Crusoe
Episode Overview
This live episode, recorded at the inaugural MCJ Summit in San Francisco, features an in-depth conversation between Cody Simms and Chase Lochmiller, CEO and co-founder of Crusoe. The discussion covers Chase's personal journey, Crusoe's evolution from bitcoin mining to leading vertically integrated clean AI infrastructure, and the broader implications of massive AI-driven energy demand on industry, technology, and society.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Chase’s Background and Early Influences
- Roots in Denver & Early Curiosity
- Grew up in Denver, Colorado; went to Kent Denver School with Crusoe co-founder, Coley.
- Longstanding passion for math and science, competitive in sports (especially soccer).
"I think growing up, I was always very interested in math and science. I was...very drawn to math and math competitions." — Chase Lochmiller (01:20)
- Early Ambitions in Physics
- Attended MIT aiming to become a theoretical physicist; did research stints at MIT and Los Alamos National Lab.
- Realized basic science can be slow-moving; wanted more fast-paced work.
- Entrepreneurial Family Influence
- Father is a colorful entrepreneur in real estate.
- Chase’s path diverged from real estate into technology and finance, but came “full circle” as large AI infrastructure now shares similarities—“owning buildings, being a landlord.”
Mountaineering and Founding Values
- Adventure and Resilience
- Inspired by blind climber Eric Weinmayer attempting the Seven Summits.
- Chase has climbed five of the Seven Summits, including Everest in 2018.
- Applied mountaineering principles—planning, resilience, and safety—to Crusoe’s culture.
"There's this notion of mountaineering that getting up is optional, getting down is mandatory." — Chase Lochmiller (07:50)
Crusoe’s Evolution and AI Infrastructure
- Company at Present
- Vertically integrated AI infrastructure company with over 1,000 employees and vast contractor teams.
- Mission: “Help make energy and intelligence more abundant.”
- Vertically Integrated Approach
- Handles everything: land/power development, data center design and construction, cooling, operations (hardware and software).
- Manages “AI factories” producing intelligence using clusters of GPUs.
- Rationale for Vertical Integration
- Rapid paradigmatic shift in AI infrastructure needs: traditional data centers insufficient for new scale and workload patterns.
- Ability to move quickly is essential; vertical integration provides speed and efficiency.
Technical Deep Dive: AI Training vs. Inference Workloads
- Training:
Building large-scale models using vast data sets (“making the investment” in intelligence). - Inference:
Using trained models to provide intelligent responses to new inputs (“statistical database” analogy). - Emerging Trends:
- Increasing convergence: Post-training and “test-time compute scaling” means more intensive work at inference, often requiring large, centralized facilities and also edge sites.
"You're actually...training at inference time...it's called test time compute scaling." — Chase Lochmiller (15:11)
- Infrastructure Distribution:
Both large centralized campuses (e.g., Abilene) and wide dispersion of edge computing.
Energy-First Approach and the Abilene Project
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Story of Lancium/Abilene
- Originated as a bitcoin mining project; region saw massive wind farm development due to production tax credits, leading to surplus clean power and negative prices.
- Crusoe leverages this by building a 1.2 GW AI campus to consume excess energy, serving major clients like Oracle and OpenAI.
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Rapid Execution
- Defied conventional timelines, building 200 MW of capacity in 11 months by questioning traditional industry practices.
"We challenged every single way of traditionally building data centers and said, wait, why do we have to do that?" — Chase Lochmiller (19:38)
-
Pipeline of New Projects
- Expanding to other markets with “energy first” philosophy, behind-the-meter offtakes, integrating renewables, batteries, and even gas with carbon capture.
The Future: Energy, AI Boom, and Economic Impacts
- Potential Shift in Power Markets
- Data centers could become the primary drivers of new energy production—possibly surpassing utilities in some regions.
- Scale of investment offers a unique push for novel clean energy solutions (e.g., large-scale carbon capture in Wyoming).
- Guarding Against Economic Bubbles
- Acknowledges risk of over-leverage and market shakeout if AI revenue projections falter.
- Crusoe mitigates by seeking long-term, investment-grade counterparties for large projects.
AI’s Societal Consequences
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Automation and Labor
- Sees AI as unprecedented “digital labor” that can dramatically increase GDP and leisure time.
"With AI... we can make digital labor, we make labor in silicon, and that's going to lead to incredible outcomes." — Chase Lochmiller (34:02)
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Access and Equality
- Believes AI will be “the greatest equalizer,” as access to intelligence converges with cost of energy.
"The cost of intelligence is going to converge to the cost of energy...And people are going to be able to access these things very freely." — Chase Lochmiller (35:57)
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Risks (Misinformation, Security)
- Recognizes potential misuse (deep fakes, propaganda), but Crusoe’s stance is empowering access, not acting as a “hall monitor.”
"We don't really view our role as being like the hall monitors...We really view it as more intelligence in the hands of more people." — Chase Lochmiller (36:55)
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Preparing the Next Generation
- Advocates for fostering curiosity, agency, and autonomy; his own kids attend Montessori to nurture independent thought.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On vertical integration & curiosity:
"We just challenged every single way of traditionally building data centers and said, wait, why do we have to do that?...Let's do it this other way." — Chase Lochmiller (19:38) -
On rapid infrastructure scaling:
"We delivered the first 200 megawatt buildings in 11 months." — Chase Lochmiller (19:38) -
AI as a societal equalizer:
"The cost of intelligence is going to converge to the cost of energy... and people are going to be able to access these things very freely." — Chase Lochmiller (35:57) -
On risk management, drawing on mountaineering:
"We try to think through really bad things happening. That's part of thinking like a mountaineer, thinking about the robustness in the business." — Chase Lochmiller (28:36) -
On AI transformation:
"This is going to lead to an era of increased leisure time for people. People are going to be able to do far more with less..." — Chase Lochmiller (34:27)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Personal & Academic Background: 01:14–04:49
- Mountaineering Lessons & Company Values: 05:05–08:16
- Crusoe Company Overview & Evolution: 09:02–12:34
- AI Workloads: Training vs. Inference: 12:34–16:16
- Lancium/Abilene & Energy-First Data Centers: 16:24–20:16
- Future Projects & Energy Infrastructure Philosophy: 20:33–22:26
- Data Centers as Future Power Drivers: 23:28–26:23
- Carbon Capture, Clean Energy & Market Risks: 26:23–29:54
- AI as Grid/Power Orchestrator: 29:54–32:09
- Societal & Economic Impact of AI: 32:44–36:55
- Access, Inequality, and Misinformation: 35:39–37:30
- Fostering High Agency, Education: 37:31–38:40
- Crusoe’s Legacy & Closing Reflections: 38:40–39:22
Closing: Crusoe’s Desired Legacy
"What I'd like Crusoe to be remembered for is really being one of the platforms that help orchestrate intelligence for the economy and really sort of standing up, you know, the infrastructure, the energy solutions, the data center solutions, the computing solutions that really enabled intelligence to scale." — Chase Lochmiller (39:05)
This episode provides a sweeping look at climate, technology, energy, and entrepreneurial philosophy, blending personal journey, technical insight, and visionary thought on the next phase of global progress.