Google looks to buy its way out of AI power crunch with $4.75B Intersect acquisition

Google parent Alphabet’s $4.75 billion deal to acquire Intersect, a clean energy developer and data center infrastructure company, represents a major exit for a company that was headquartered for many years in the Pacific Northwest.

More broadly for the industry, the deal adds a new twist to the competition among cloud giants to secure the energy required to power their AI ambitions.

The deal, announced Monday, is expected to give Google a team that can develop, build, and generate power directly alongside data centers — bypassing the long wait that companies typically face to connect new facilities to the electrical grid.

Founded in 2016, Intersect was based in Beaverton, Ore., before officially moving its headquarters earlier this year to San Francisco. 

Intersect has grown into a major player in utility-scale renewable energy, with major assets in solar power and battery storage. The company has raised more than $10 billion to date and already had a partnership with Google, which took a minority stake in a funding round last year.

“AI today is stuck behind one of the slowest, oldest industries in the country: electric power,” wrote Intersect founder and CEO Sheldon Kimber, in a blog post announcing the deal. “The country has racks full of GPUs that can’t be energized because there isn’t enough electricity for them.”

Microsoft and Amazon are also racing to secure power for AI data centers, but through different approaches. Neither has acquired a power developer outright.

• Microsoft has signed large renewable deals and is restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. 
• Amazon has a long-term agreement for nuclear power from the Susquehanna plant in Pennsylvania and is investing in small modular reactor technology. 

Alphabet’s agreement to acquire Intersect is structured as $4.75 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt. It’s expected to close in the first half of 2026. 

Intersect, which has more than 360 employees, will continue to operate under its own brand, with Kimber remaining as CEO. The company’s operations in Texas and California will be carved out and remain with current investors including TPG Rise Climate and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure.