Tulsa is now home to a new 400,000-square-foot AI manufacturing facility — and more jobs are expected to come with it.
Crusoe, a Colorado-based company responsible for building the infrastructure for companies like OpenAI, held a ribbon cutting Monday for its second Tulsa location.
“We did make that decision to expand here because of our experience with the first facility,” Crusoe President Cully Cavness said. “Everyone from the governor’s office to the mayor’s office to the local permitting officials have just been very pro-business and welcoming and supportive of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Crusoe invested $10 million in Tulsa in 2024, bringing along 100 jobs. They now currently employ over300 people in the city and expect to hire more.
The first building is located at 4235 S. 68th E. Ave. The new facility, at 3995 N. 125th E. Ave., is in northeast Tulsa near the airport. It houses switchgear technology, which Cavness said works as a breaker box that safely distributes and controls powers inside AI data centers.
The electricity is delivered to the necessary equipment that runs systems like ChatGPT.
“If you use ChatGPT, you’re actually using electricity that’s been transformed into intelligence through this kind of quick extending line that was manufactured here in Tulsa,” he explained.
He described the facility as very clean and low impact on the environment. The manufacturing plant works mostly with metal — cutting, bending and shaping it.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, who was in attendance Monday alongside Mayor Monroe Nichols, took credit for helping attract the manufacturer to Oklahoma. He cited his 2024 executive order which mandates all permits be completed within 30 days or they become free to the business.
Stitt, who only has a few months left in office, has described Oklahoma as the country’s most pro-business state.
“We’re supposed to keep taxes low, reduce unnecessary regulation, (and) make sure that (our) workforce is ready when opportunities like this come along,” Stitt told the crowd.
Stitt and Nichols have previously clashed over homelessness and Operation SAFE, but the Tulsa mayor said it was necessary for the two to collaborate in order to properly leverage the city’s business community.
Nichols said he understands there are skeptics of AI, including critics of the data center boom across Oklahoma. But, he said, it’s better to be involved in its growth to ensure the technology is used responsibly.
“There are so many things that we don’t know and have to get comfortable with,” he said. “As mayor, I think about the things that I can focus on and control, and (that’s) making sure we’re finding ways to create opportunity for folks in this community.”
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
