Crusoe Drops Major Turbine Partnership

Crusoe has abandoned plans to deploy Boom Supersonic’s new natural gas-fired power technology at its AI data centers, ending a partnership that had been valued at approximately $1.25 billion. The Denver-based AI infrastructure company had agreed to purchase 29 Superpower turbines, each capable of producing 42 megawatts, with initial deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027.

The reversal comes shortly after Crusoe raised $3.9 billion to expand its AI data center operations. The company, which began in 2018 as a bitcoin miner using excess natural gas from oil fields, has evolved into a major AI data center developer, including its large Abilene, Texas, campus that provides computing capacity to OpenAI.

Boom’s Stationary Power Strategy Loses Its First Customer

Boom Supersonic introduced Superpower as a new business built around the engine technology being developed for its Overture supersonic aircraft. The stationary turbine shares approximately 80% of its parts with the aircraft engine, known as Symphony, allowing Boom to apply its aerospace technology to electricity generation.

The Crusoe agreement was intended to serve as the launch partnership for that business. Boom CEO Blake Scholl said the companies are no longer proceeding with the arrangement because turbines are no longer expected to be part of Crusoe’s primary near-term power mix at its Abilene operations and other sites.

Despite losing the launch customer, Boom says it has other customers in its pipeline. Scholl said the company expects to deliver approximately 250 megawatts of Superpower capacity next year and is targeting 1 gigawatt of deployments in 2028.

Crusoe Keeps Its Energy Strategy Flexible

Crusoe confirmed that it is no longer working with Boom, while emphasizing that its approach to powering AI factories remains flexible. The company said its expanding portfolio of campuses requires different energy solutions depending on the requirements of individual locations.

That strategy includes turbines as well as wind, solar, batteries and grid electricity. The decision to end the Boom partnership therefore does not represent a rejection of natural gas turbines altogether, but rather a decision that the specific arrangement with Boom is not suitable for Crusoe’s current requirements.

AI Data Centers Create a New Power Market

The dispute highlights the growing importance of electricity infrastructure as AI companies expand computing capacity. Data centers require large and reliable sources of power, creating opportunities for multiple generation technologies as developers seek to bring new campuses online.

For Crusoe, maintaining flexibility across several energy sources may allow the company to adapt its power strategy as individual campuses develop. For equipment providers such as Boom, however, securing customers at sufficient scale remains critical as they attempt to establish new technologies in an increasingly competitive data center power market.

Boom Faces a Commercialization Test

The loss of Crusoe is a setback for Boom’s stationary-power business because the agreement had provided a significant early customer and a pathway toward commercial deployment. Boom raised $300 million last year, largely to support commercialization of the turbine business, with the broader strategy of using profits from stationary power to help finance development of the Overture aircraft.

The company’s ability to replace the lost volume with other customers will therefore become an important measure of the Superpower strategy. Its stated delivery target of 250 megawatts next year and 1 gigawatt in 2028 provides an indication of the scale Boom is pursuing, although the source does not provide details on those other customers or their contractual commitments.

What Investors May Watch Next

The breakdown of the Crusoe partnership underscores how quickly AI data center developers can adjust their energy strategies as power requirements evolve. Crusoe’s continued willingness to consider multiple sources could make the energy mix at individual campuses an important part of its infrastructure planning.

For Boom, the next milestone will be whether its pipeline of other customers can replace the commercial opportunity lost with Crusoe. Meanwhile, the broader AI infrastructure buildout is creating a growing market for generation technologies capable of supplying large data centers, making deployment volumes and reliability increasingly important factors for both developers and power suppliers.