What does Google’s $4.75Bn Intersect deal mean for data centres?
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has acquired Intersect, a data centre and energy infrastructure company, for $4.75 billion.
Intersect has multiple gigawatts of energy and data centre projects either in development or under construction due to an existing partnership with Google. Back in December 2024, Google, TPG Rise Climate (TPG), and Intersect announced a plan to scale renewable power and storage solutions to new data centres. The partnership was designed to deliver gigawatts of new data centre capacity across the US with Intersect catalysing a targeted $20 billion in renewable power infrastructure investment by the end of the decade.
“To realise AI’s potential, the growth in electricity demand must be met with new, clean power sources. The scale of AI presents an opportunity to completely rethink data centre development – by co-locating them where possible with the grid-connected carbon-free energy that keeps them up and running,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Data Centre Energy at Google. “We’re bringing this opportunity to life by combining pioneers at the intersection of data centres and clean energy development to synchronise load growth with new power generation in a novel way. We hope to replicate this model in multiple markets across the US and around the world.”
To further its vision throughout the US, Intersect also announced a more than $800 million funding round led by TPG Rise Climate and Google.
Now, following the acquisition, Intersect will also explore a range of emerging technologies to increase and diversify energy supply, while supporting Google’s US data centre investments to meet its Cloud customers’ and users’ demand.
“Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data centre load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership. We look forward to welcoming Sheldon and the Intersect team,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.
Intersect’s operations will remain separate from Alphabet and Google under the Intersect brand and will be led by Founder and CEO Sheldon Kimber. It will partner closely with Google’s technical infrastructure team, continuing work on in-development, and new, joint projects; this includes the companies’ first announced co-located data centre and power site, under construction in Haskell County, Texas.
“Intersect has always been focused on bringing innovation to the industry and we look forward to accelerating at scale as part of Google,” said Sheldon Kimber, Founder and CEO, Intersect. “Modern infrastructure is the linchpin of American competitiveness in AI. We share Google’s conviction that energy innovation and community investment are the pillars of what must come next.”
Intersect’s existing operating assets in Texas, and its operating and in-development assets in California, will not be part of the acquisition.
Google’s ongoing energy commitment
The acquisition aligns with Alphabet and Google’s commitment to partner with utilities and energy developers to unlock affordable energy supply for its data centre infrastructure.
In April 2025, Google signed Taiwan’s first-ever corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) for geothermal energy, marking a step in its clean energy strategy for the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement, made with Baseload Capital, a global geothermal developer, is expected to deliver 10MW of continuous clean power to the grid and support Taiwan’s ambition to expand its geothermal capacity.
Google also chose Shell Energy Europe as its carbon-free energy manager in the UK. In September 2025, Google announced the opening of its data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, as part of a two-year £5 billion investment in the UK. Shell will manage a power portfolio that provides access to battery energy storage systems (BESS). It will make use of Google’s clean energy portfolio, including the off-take from its long-term agreement with ENGIE from the Moray West project in Scotland, storing surplus energy when production is high and releasing stored power back to the grid when production is low.
The Waltham Cross data centre uses air-cooling technology to limit water usage to domestic use and is equipped to support off-site heat recovery. In other words, the heat from the data centre can be re-routed and provided free of charge to warm local homes, schools, or businesses.
The Intersect acquisition positions Alphabet to more closely integrate data centre expansion with clean energy development, reinforcing its ability to meet growing Cloud and AI demand sustainably.
The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and anticipated to close in the first half of 2026.
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