Airline developer and natural gas engine supplier Boom Supersonic has tapped US energy company Baker Hughes to supply gas-generation equipment to pair with its 42MW natural-gas turbine offering, supporting a 1.21GW onsite power deal it has signed with AI data center developer Crusoe.

Baker Hughes will supply Boom with 25 Brush Power Generation DAX 7 generators, AVRs, and cubicles. The generators can be driven by steam or gas turbines, providing power outputs ranging from 20 to 310MVA.

Following the deal, Boom has ordered 31 generator units, totaling 1.3GW, with deliveries expected to start in mid-2026 and continue through 2028.

“This collaboration illustrates how Baker Hughes’ power systems capabilities are addressing the energy needs of the data center industry, one of the key drivers of growing global power demand,” said Baker Hughes chairman and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli. “Pairing our proven generator technology with a novel turbine application enables innovative, efficient, and dependable power solutions for the rapidly expanding distributed power generation needs of AI and high-performance computing.”

Boom inked a 1.21GW deal with Crusoe back in December, which will see the company supply the AI firm with 29 of its Superpower turbines, a 42MW natural gas turbine supplied in a shipping container-scale unit. According to Boom, the turbine operates without a dedicated water supply and can run on both natural gas and diesel.

"We are bringing a new category of scalable, onsite power to market so that the growth of AI is no longer constrained by the grid," said Boom CEO Blake Scholl.

"Collaborating with a world-class energy technology company like Baker Hughes is how we deliver on that promise, pairing our supersonic turbine with their proven generators to provide reliable power for our customers."

Boom was founded in 2014 in Denver, Colorado. It is developing a supersonic airliner dubbed Overture, which the company claims is designed to cruise at Mach 1.7 (1,806 kmph; 1,122 mph).

The company announced in 2022 that it would develop its own turbofan engine for the plane after being rejected by the "big three" engine manufacturers, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and General Electric, due to high capital costs.

Despite this, the company claims that it will commence test flights in 2027 and expects to see commercial flights in 2030. However, critics have pointed to the significant capital costs related to airline development and the lack of an operational concept as major barriers to the plane's commercialization.