Crusoe scraps $1.25B deal for Boom Supersonic power turbines
AI data center builder Crusoe has ended a $1.25 billion agreement to buy 29 gas turbines from Boom Supersonic. Both Denver-based companies confirmed the partnership no longer fits, though they remain on good terms.
Crusoe, a Denver-based AI data center company that recently raised $3.9 billion, has called off plans to use stationary power plants developed by fellow Denver firm Boom Supersonic.
Founded in 2018 as a bitcoin miner running on excess natural gas from oil fields, Crusoe has grown into one of the largest builders of AI data centers, including a major campus in Abilene, Texas, that supplies computing power to OpenAI.
Boom Supersonic, which is developing a supersonic passenger jet called Overture, launched a new business line last year selling a stationary power plant version of the engine it is building for that jet. The Superpower turbine shares about 80% of its parts with the airborne engine, known as Symphony.
Crusoe had signed on as the launch customer for this business, committing $1.25 billion to purchase 29 of Boom's 42-megawatt Superpower turbines, with first deliveries planned for 2027. That deal has since collapsed.
Partnership ends
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl said on X that the companies are no longer moving forward with the turbine launch partnership, explaining that turbines are no longer part of Crusoe's near-term primary power mix at its Abilene sites and elsewhere. He noted other customers remain in Boom's pipeline, with the company planning to deliver about 250 megawatts of Superpower turbines to other sites next year and targeting 1 gigawatt by 2028.
Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt confirmed the company is no longer doing business with Boom, saying Crusoe stays flexible in choosing energy solutions suited to each site, including turbines, wind, solar, batteries and the grid.
Crusoe's initial 1.2-gigawatt data center in Abilene, built for Oracle and OpenAI, runs on grid power, with a gas-turbine plant serving as backup only. The company is also building a 900-megawatt data center in Abilene for Microsoft that will run on on-site gas turbines.
Losing its launch customer is a setback for Boom, which raised $300 million last year largely to commercialize the power plant business, with plans to use its profits to help fund development of the Overture jet.
