Asia Tech Wire (Oct 30) -- U.S. data center startup Crusoe Energy is raising as much as $500 million from investors to expand its facilities providing infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom, according to the Financial Times.

The funding round values Crusoe at about $3 billion, more than double its valuation two years ago, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Founded in 2018, Crusoe was previously one of the well-known companies in the bitcoin mining industry.

Later, Crusoe expanded its computing services into high-performance computing and AI through its Crusoe Cloud product.

Earlier this month, Crusoe announced that it would be investing billions of dollars in a data center campus in partnership with alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital and investment firm Primary Digital Infrastructure.