Ambrosia Energy will build a 10 GWh factory in Texas to make batteries for off-grid data centers
- ID
- 35501
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 15 Oct 2026, 3:51 AM
- Fetched
- 15 Oct 2026, 4:22 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/14/ambrosia-energy-will-build-a-10-gwh-factory-in-texas-to-make-batteries-for-off-grid-data-centers/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 5.0
- Created
- 15 Oct 2026, 4:23 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- saas_startup_foundersdevelopers
What happened
Ambrosia Energy, co-founded by Ben Longmier and Sara Spangelo (previously founded Swarm, sold to SpaceX), announced at TechCrunch Disrupt that it has started work on a 10 GWh battery factory on 150,000 square feet near Austin, Texas, targeting full production in two to three years — enough for roughly a 300 MW power plant per year. Its first commercial plant in West Texas, starting later this year, pairs 300 MW of solar with 660 MWh of batteries to deliver 30 MW of continuous power at a 99.3% uptime goal, sold at $100 per megawatt-hour. A pilot has run sections continuously for over 100 days at 200 kW, and Ambrosia says reducing part counts and in-house manufacturing is how it holds the $100/MWh cost line.
Why it matters
The number to track is $100/MWh for 24/7 power with a 99.3% uptime target — Ambrosia claims that makes off-grid solar-plus-battery competitive with the natural gas turbines hyperscalers plan to use. If your region or hosting choice is gated by power availability rather than land or fibre, that figure is the comparison point to hold vendors to; note the article says nothing about Southeast Asia or Malaysia, and the 30 MW continuous figure is small relative to a large campus, so it is not yet a substitute for grid supply at scale.
Discussion angle
If 30 MW of continuous off-grid power at $100/MWh is real, does it change where compute gets sited in power-constrained markets — and what would a Malaysian or SEA operator need to see (cost, uptime proof, financing) before betting on it over grid supply?