AI and HPC data center developer Crusoe has agreed to purchase 1.21GW of natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic to power its growing data center portfolio.

Boom will supply Crusoe 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.

“Boom’s innovative approach to power turbine technology builds on the company’s impressive breakthroughs in supersonic flight. At Crusoe, we are continuously searching for new approaches to increase real-world performance and accelerate time-to-power across our portfolio of energy assets and operations,” said Chase Lochmiller, co-founder and CEO of Crusoe.

“We’re proud to be partnering closely with Boom as the launch customer for Superpower, an initiative that aligns perfectly with Crusoe’s energy-first approach to building the AI infrastructure of the future.”

In addition to the Crusoe deal, Boom also closed a $300 million Series B funding round led by Darsana Capital Partners, with participation from Altimeter Capital, ARK Invest, Bessemer Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, and Y Combinator. According to the company, it has a backlog of more than $1.25 billion for its Superpower turbine.

The funding is slated to support the ramp-up of Boom's production levels, with the company planning to increase production to more than 4GW annually by 2030. The turbine is based on the same technology as a jet engine and has been designed to deliver sustained, efficient high power output, even under challenging thermal conditions, the company claims.

“Supersonic technology is an accelerant - of course, for faster flight, but now for artificial intelligence as well,” said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. “With this financing and our first order for Superpower, Boom is funded to deliver both our engine and our airliner.”

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 km/h; 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.

Crusoe has made several major orders for gas turbines to power its data center ambitions. Previously a cryptomining company that has pivoted to data centers and cloud, Crusoe is developing a large campus in Abilene, Texas, for OpenAI’s Stargate project. Part of that site is set to be powered by natural gas.

Earlier this year, Crusoe entered into a joint venture with San Francisco investment firm Engine No. 1 to procure 4.5GW worth of gas turbines from GE Vernova and Chevron. The company followed this up with a further order for around 1GW of turbines from GE Vernova for use at its data centers.

US energy solutions provider ProEnergy recently announced plans to repurpose jet engines to power data centers. In October, the company revealed that two unnamed data center operators were using its repurposed gas turbines to power facilities during construction and in the first few years of operation.