Caterpillar has partnered with AI infrastructure developer American Intelligence & Power Corporation (AIP Corp) to supply natural gas turbines for AIP’s planned up to 8GW Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, West Virginia.

Under the terms of the deal, Caterpillar will supply AIP with 2GW of fast-response natural gas generator sets to support the initial phases of the project, with deliveries scheduled between September 2026 and August 2027.

According to the partners, the equipment will be paired with battery energy storage systems to manage the rapid load fluctuations associated with AI workloads. Power delivery is expected to begin in 2026, with 2GW expected online by 2027.

“This strategic alliance reflects a shared commitment to delivering reliable, scalable, and capital-efficient power solutions on an accelerated timeline,” said Daniel J. Shapiro, CEO of AIP. “Our design is purpose-built for AI data center operations, combining fast-response natural gas generation with battery energy storage to manage rapid load variability and deliver consistent power quality at scale.”

Caterpillar will supply the campus with its G3516 natural gas gensets, which the company claims can ramp from zero to full load in approximately seven seconds. The gensets will operate on natural gas and will include advanced emissions controls, such as selective catalytic reduction, to meet air permitting requirements.

“This collaboration reflects Caterpillar and our dealers’ continued focus on supporting customers that require primary, continuous-duty power at scale through our broad energy solutions portfolio,” said Melissa Busen, senior vice president of electric power, Caterpillar. “Projects like Monarch demonstrate how Caterpillar’s natural gas generation platforms are being deployed as core infrastructure for data centers and other power-intensive applications where reliability, speed of deployment, and lifecycle performance are critical.”

Caterpillar authorized dealer Boyd CAT will provide local dealer support, including service readiness and parts planning. As part of the deal, Caterpillar Financial will also provide vendor equipment financing, subject to customary terms and conditions, aligned with phased equipment deliveries.

AIP launch

The deal with Caterpillar closely follows the formal launch of AIP earlier this week. The platform is a joint venture between Fidelis New Energy and 8090 Industries to develop, own, and operate large-scale AI infrastructure.

The Monarch Campus is set to be the platform's flagship development, and will be structured as a fully integrated, behind-the-meter energy and compute ecosystem. The campus has been authorized under West Virginia House Bill 2014 as its own islanded utility with special microgrid status, which the company claims will significantly reduce the time to power for the data center.

According to AIP, the project will be purpose-built explicitly to support AI-driven workloads.

"AIP Corp was deliberately designed as an infrastructure-first platform focused on execution, reliability, and scale," said Daniel Shapiro.

Reports on the data center first emerged in 2023, with the project originally envisioned to be powered via an adjacent hydrogen facility.

The deal is Caterpillar's latest within the data center sector, as the company attempts to grow its market share. In August, the firm partnered with US power infrastructure developer Hunt Energy on a multi-year initiative to deliver upwards of 1GW of generation capacity for data centers in North America. The first project is expected to launch in Texas.