Crusoe signs multiyear cloud deal with Perplexity for AI models

Crusoe, the data center and AI cloud infrastructure company, has locked in a multiyear cloud capacity agreement with Perplexity AI to support the search startup’s model training and inference workloads. The deal puts Crusoe in charge of hosting and managing Nvidia AI chips on Perplexity’s behalf, a managed GPU arrangement that gives the AI search company another option beyond the hyperscaler giants it already relies on.

For Crusoe, the partnership is another headline-grabbing contract in what’s been a breakout stretch. Earlier in September, the company announced an approximately $13 billion five-year AI cloud contract with Jane Street, the quantitative trading firm.

What the deal actually covers

Under the agreement, Crusoe will host Nvidia chips dedicated to Perplexity’s AI operations and manage those chips over their full lifetime. Crusoe SVP Erwan Menard confirmed the company’s role in overseeing the hardware on an ongoing basis, which means Perplexity is essentially outsourcing not just the compute but the operational headaches that come with running large GPU clusters.

The deal also includes a reciprocal element: Perplexity will make its Enterprise Max product available to more than 1,800 Crusoe employees.

Financial specifics like chip volume, total contract value, and precise timelines weren’t disclosed.

Perplexity’s cloud diversification strategy

Perplexity has been deliberate about not putting all its eggs in one cloud basket. The company already has substantial commitments with AWS and struck a $750 million deal with Microsoft Azure reported back in January 2026. Adding Crusoe to the mix gives Perplexity a third major infrastructure partner, one that specializes in AI workloads rather than general-purpose cloud computing.

Crusoe’s rapid ascent in AI infrastructure

The firm has built out what it describes as nearly 5 GW of AI infrastructure capacity, with a pipeline exceeding 40 GW. The company originally gained attention for using stranded natural gas at oil wells to power Bitcoin mining operations, converting what would otherwise be flared emissions into productive compute.

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