Crusoe abandons $1.25B plan to use Boom turbines at AI data centers
Crusoe dropped a $1.25 billion plan to power AI data centers with Boom turbines.
AI data-center company Crusoe has ended a launch partnership to buy $1.25 billion of Boom Supersonic’s natural-gas Superpower turbines, Boom CEO Blake Scholl said. The order covered 29 turbines of 42 megawatts each, with first deliveries planned for 2027, for sites including Crusoe’s Abilene, Texas campus that supplies compute to OpenAI. Crusoe confirmed the partnership is no longer the right fit. Boom said it still expects to deliver about 250 megawatts of Superpower turbines next year and is targeting 1 gigawatt in 2028.
- Crusoe had agreed to spend $1.25 billion on 29 of Boom’s 42-megawatt Superpower turbines.
- Boom says turbines are no longer in Crusoe’s near-term power mix, including at Abilene.
- Boom still expects about 250 megawatts of deliveries next year and 1 gigawatt in 2028.
- Crusoe, which recently raised $3.9 billion, supplies computing power to OpenAI.
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Crusoe, a Denver-based AI data center startup that recently raised $3.9 billion, has ended plans to use a new line of stationary power plants developed by fellow Denver company Boom Supersonic.
Founded in 2018 as a bitcoin miner that ran on excess natural gas from oil fields, Crusoe has since become one of the biggest builders of AI data centers, including a massive campus in Abilene, Texas, that supplies computing power to OpenAI.
Boom Supersonic, which is developing a supersonic passenger jet called Overture, launched a new business last year to sell a version of the engine it’s developing for that jet as natural gas-fired stationary power plants. Its Superpower turbine shares about 80% of the same parts with that airborne engine, called Symphony.
Crusoe had signed on to be the first customer for this business, agreeing to spend $1.25 billion on 29 of Boom’s 42-megawatt Superpower turbines. The first deliveries were supposed to begin in 2027. But that deal has since fallen apart, according to Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl.
Friday, in a post on X, after congratulating Crusoe founders Cully Cavness and Chase Lochmiller on the company’s recent raise, Scholl said the companies are no longer moving forward with the turbine launch partnership. Although he did note that other customers were in its pipeline.
“The TL/DR is that turbines are no longer part of Crusoe’s near term primary power mix at Abilene/etc., so a launch partnership just didn’t make sense,” he wrote in the post. “Boom will be delivering about 250MW of Superpowers next year to other sites, and we’re targeting 1GW in 2028. We’re grateful for the help Crusoe gave us in shaping Superpower and continue cheering for their successes. The future is long, and we look forward to potentially teaming up if/when turbines become part of their primary power mix.”
Crusoe confirmed to TechCrunch that it is no longer doing business with Boom.
“We build AI factories from the power up, and we’re bringing new campuses online across the country, powered by innovative energy sources,” spokesperson Andrew Schmitt said in an email. “As our portfolio grows, we stay flexible, choosing the energy solutions that are right for each site as its needs evolve – including turbines, along with wind, solar, batteries and the grid. While Boom has been a great partner, the partnership isn’t the right fit today. We wish them well.”
Losing its launch customer is seemingly a setback for Boom, which raised $300 million last year, largely to commercialize the new business. The idea, Scholl told TechCrunch at the time, was to use profits from the stationary power plant business to fund the development of Overture.
Scholl could not be reached for comment before publication; TechCrunch will update this article if he responds.
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Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
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