Alphabet has agreed to buy Intersect, an energy and data center infrastructure developer, for $4.75 billion in cash as it moves to secure power supply for its growing US data center footprint, the Google parent company announced Monday.
Alphabet said the acquisition will enable data center and power generation projects to come online more quickly and accelerate innovation. The deal includes multiple gigawatts of energy and data center projects from Intersect that are in development or under construction as part of its existing partnership with Google, including a co-located data center and power site in Haskell County, Texas.
“Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data center load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in the announcement.
Electricity has emerged as a major bottleneck for AI growth. Data centers already consume about 6% of US electricity, and Goldman Sachs estimates that share could rise to roughly 11% by 2030 as AI workloads expand.
Grid regulators and industry groups have warned that rapid data center development is tightening power markets in regions such as Texas, the Southeast, and the Mid-Atlantic. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has said data centers are among the largest drivers of rising winter demand and could heighten blackout risks during extreme weather.
Alphabet framed the acquisition as part of a broader push to expand reliable energy supply for data centers without shifting costs onto other grid customers, as competition for power intensifies across the AI industry.
Competition for power and sites has also complicated data center deals for other tech giants. Amazon recently pulled a $150 million construction advance tied to talks to become the first tenant at Fermi America’s planned 11-gigawatt data center campus in the Texas Panhandle. The withdrawal sent Fermi’s stock sharply lower.
Alphabet said Intersect will remain a separate company under its existing brand and leadership while partnering closely with Google’s technical infrastructure team. Some Intersect assets are excluded from the deal, including certain operations in Texas and California that will continue to run independently with their existing investors.
The deal includes the assumption of Intersect’s debt and is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Google already owns a minority stake in Intersect from a prior funding round.
This story was written using Business Insider’s AI tools and edited by a Business Insider editor.
