Crusoe drops Boom Supersonic power turbine deal

Crusoe, the Denver-based AI data center startup, has ended plans to use a new line of stationary power plants developed by Boom Supersonic, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Crusoe had agreed to spend $1.25 billion on 29 of Boom's 42-megawatt Superpower turbines, with first deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027. Boom launched the stationary power business last year, selling a version of its jet engine as a natural gas-fired generator. The Superpower turbine shares about 80% of its parts with Boom's airborne engine, Symphony.

Boom CEO Blake Scholl said the turbine launch partnership is no longer moving forward. He said Boom will deliver about 250MW of Superpower turbines next year to other sites and is targeting 1GW in 2028.

The split lands as Crusoe expands its presence in Abilene, Texas. Its initial 1.2 gigawatt data center there, built for Oracle and OpenAI, runs on the grid, with a gas-turbine plant on site used only for backup. Crusoe is also building a 900 megawatt data center in Abilene for Microsoft that will be powered by on-site gas turbines.

Boom raised $300 million last year, largely to commercialize the stationary power plant business. Scholl said profits from that business were intended to fund development of Overture, Boom's supersonic passenger jet.