Shares of Galaxy Digital rose about four percent in U.S. trading on Thursday after the company secured approval to significantly expand power capacity at its Helios data center campus in West Texas. The approval, granted by the state’s grid operator ERCOT, allows Galaxy to add 830 megawatts of capacity, more than doubling the site’s total approved load to over 1.6 gigawatts. The move comes as Galaxy accelerates its push into infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, even as broader crypto markets traded lower during the session.
The expanded capacity follows completion of a required large load interconnection study and reflects growing demand for compute-intensive workloads. Galaxy said the Helios campus is central to its long term strategy to diversify beyond traditional crypto financial services into data center and infrastructure operations. The company has positioned the site to support both AI training and inference, areas that are drawing increasing interest from institutional clients seeking scalable compute resources. Market participants viewed the regulatory approval as a key milestone that reduces execution risk and strengthens Galaxy’s ability to monetize its Texas footprint.
Galaxy has also finalized a service agreement with AEP Texas, with Wind Energy Transmission Texas acting as the interconnection provider. Construction is already underway on the first phase of the Helios project under a separate agreement with AI compute firm CoreWeave. Power delivery for the initial buildout is expected to begin in early 2026, aligning with surging demand for AI-related infrastructure across the United States. Executives have described power availability as one of the main constraints in scaling AI compute, particularly in regions with competitive electricity pricing.
Chief executive Mike Novogratz said demand for AI compute in Texas is unprecedented and noted that the approval places Galaxy in a strong position to capture further growth. The company is now exploring additional land and power opportunities in Texas and other states as it looks to expand its data center portfolio. The stock’s gain stood out against weakness elsewhere in the crypto sector, with several major digital asset firms posting declines as bitcoin slipped below $96,000. The divergence highlighted investor interest in AI infrastructure plays tied to crypto firms with diversified revenue strategies.
