New Era Helium and Sharon AI Finalize Newly Created Joint Venture, Texas Critical Data Centers LLC, To Build 250MW Net-Zero Energy Data Center in the Permian Basin
January 21 2025 - 6:03AM
Business Wire
New Era Helium, Inc. (Nasdaq:NEHC) (“NEH,” “New Era Helium” or
the “Company”), an exploration and production (E&P) company
sourcing helium produced in association with natural gas reserves
within the Permian Basin, is pleased to announce the finalization
of its previously announced 50/50 joint venture (“JV”) with Sharon
AI, Inc. (“Sharon AI”), a High-Performance Computing business
specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud GPU Compute
Infrastructure, and Cloud Storage. The newly created joint venture,
named Texas Critical Data Centers (“TCDC”), LLC will be a
collaboration to fund, develop, and construct a cutting-edge 250MW
net-zero energy data center within the Permian Basin.
A Groundbreaking Partnership for Clean Energy and
AI/HPC
In December 2024, the two companies executed a binding letter of
intent (LOI) to develop and operate a 250MW net-zero energy data
center in the Permian Basin [read here]. This milestone agreement
marks a significant leap in leveraging clean energy for
AI/HPC-driven industries.
New Era Helium is currently negotiating with Texas Critical Data
Centers LLC a long term offtake gas supply agreement which is
expected to be finalized within the next 30 days. The details of
the gas supply agreement will provide New Era Helium a fixed price
for its natural gas over a five-year period plus three options of
an additional five years each, for a total of 20 years. This
ensures the large-scale data center project will benefit from
low-cost, net-zero energy as well as long-term energy price
stability, which makes the project strategically well positioned to
address the rising energy demands of AI/HPC workloads.
Texas Critical Data Centers LLC currently has multiple sites
identified within the Permian Basin that will allow it to access
New Era Helium’s natural gas via various existing gas transmission
lines while siting the data center in close proximity to existing
fibre optic cable and associated infrastructure. It is also working
to identify the most efficient manner to access certain 45Q Tax
Credits associated with Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage
“CCUS”. The ability to capture the anthroprogenic CO2 and dispose
of it will help make this data center a true first of its kind.
The next major goal for this collaboration will be the
announcement of the final site selection of the 250MW net-zero
energy data center. Both New Era Helium and Sharon AI expect this
to be announced in Q1 2025. Further announcements pertaining to
other certain critical aspects of the joint venture will also be
released as they become available.
These next milestones will include certain entitlements for the
site, selection of power generation and CO2 capture technology, as
well as ongoing conversations with offtake partners, which may
include hyperscalers and other large energy users.
E. Will Gray II, CEO of New Era Helium, Inc. commented:
“The creation of Texas Critical Data Centers, LLC reflects our goal
of building innovative energy infrastructure to support the growing
needs of the AI/HPC-driven digital world. By combining our
expertise in helium and clean energy with Sharon AI’s cutting-edge
computing technologies, we’re setting a new standard for
sustainability and innovation.”
Wolf Schubert, CEO of Sharon AI Inc. added: “We are
excited to be rapidly progressing our Texas Critical Data Centers
LLC joint venture with New Era Helium given the high demand in the
US for large-scale, low-cost, net-zero energy data centers, which
are essential for powering AI/HPC workloads.”
About New Era Helium, Inc.
New Era Helium, Inc. is an exploration and production company
that sources helium produced in association with the production of
natural gas reserves in North America. The company currently owns
and operates over 137,000 acres in Southeast New Mexico and has
over 1.5 billion cubic feet of proved and probable helium reserves.
For more information, visit www.newerahelium.com. Follow New Era
Helium on LinkedIn and X.
About Sharon AI, Inc.
Sharon AI, Inc., is a High-Performance Computing company focused
on Artificial Intelligence, Cloud GPU Compute Infrastructure &
Data Storage. Sharon AI has a hybrid operational model that sees it
deploy in Tier III & Tier IV co-location data centers as well
as design, build and operate its own proprietary specialized data
center facilities.
With the expected addition of NVIDIA H200’s to the company’s GPU
fleet in 2025, Sharon AI will be able to offer a wide range of
AI/HPC GPUs as a Service (GPUaaS), including NVIDIA H200, H100,
L40S, A40, RTX3090 and AMD MI300X.
For GPU-as-a-Service sales enquiries, please click
here.
For more information, visit: www.sharonai.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this press release may be
forward-looking statements or statements of future expectations
based on currently available information. Such statements are
naturally subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors such as the
development of general economic conditions, future market
conditions, unusual catastrophic loss events, changes in the
capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events
or results to be materially different from those anticipated by
such statements. The Company does not make any representation or
warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or
updated status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever
will the Company and its affiliates be liable to anyone for any
decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information
and/or statements in this press release or for any related damages.
There is no guarantee that New Era Helium and Texas Critical Data
Centers LLC will actually enter into the long term offtake gas
supply agreement mentioned in this press release and materialize
the benefits therefrom.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250121845732/en/
New Era Helium, Inc. Investor and Media Contact:
Investor Relations Jonathan.Paterson@harbor-access.com Tel +1 475
477 9401
Sharon AI, Inc Media Contact: info@sharonai.com
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