Crusoe Drops $1.25B Boom Turbine Deal for AI Data Centres

Crusoe has ended a $1.25 billion agreement to buy 29 Superpower gas turbines from Boom Supersonic for its AI data centres, forcing Boom to move forward without its original launch customer.

The Denver-based AI infrastructure company, now one of the largest builders of AI data centres, had planned to begin receiving Boom’s 42-megawatt turbines in 2027.

Boom developed Superpower as a stationary version of the engine technology behind its planned Overture supersonic passenger jet. The turbine shares roughly 80% of its parts with Boom’s Symphony aircraft engine.

Crusoe changes its power strategy.

Boom CEO Blake Scholl confirmed the companies had abandoned the launch partnership in a post on X, saying turbines are no longer part of Crusoe’s near-term primary power mix at projects including Abilene, Texas.

Scholl said Boom still expects to deliver about 250 megawatts of Superpower capacity to other sites next year and is targeting 1 gigawatt in 2028.

Crusoe also confirmed the partnership had ended, saying it remains flexible about how individual campuses are powered. Its options include turbines, wind, solar, batteries and grid electricity depending on each site’s requirements.

Crusoe’s initial 1.2-gigawatt Abilene campus for Oracle and OpenAI uses grid electricity, with a gas-turbine plant providing backup power. The company is also developing a 900-megawatt Abilene data centre for Microsoft, expected to use on-site gas turbines.

Boom loses its launch customer

Crusoe had been positioned as the first customer for Boom’s Superpower AI data centre business, making the cancellation a major shift in Boom’s commercialisation plans.

Boom raised $300 million last year largely to build out the stationary turbine business. Scholl had said profits from Superpower could help fund development of the company’s Overture aircraft.

Despite losing Crusoe as its launch partner, Boom says it has other customers in its pipeline and could work with Crusoe again if turbines become part of the company’s primary power strategy in the future.