Denver-based AI data-center developer Crusoe has quietly walked away from a $1.25 billion order that made it the launch customer for Boom Supersonic's Superpower stationary gas turbine, TechCrunch first reported on Thursday. The 29-turbine agreement, unveiled last December, would have supplied roughly 1.2 gigawatts of natural-gas generation to Crusoe's Abilene, Texas campus starting in 2027.
Turbines Are No Longer In The Near-Term Mix
A Crusoe spokesperson told TechCrunch that "turbines are no longer part of Crusoe's near term primary power mix at Abilene" and other flagship sites. The company said it will stay flexible on generation choices – wind, solar, batteries and grid interconnection all remain in play – as it works through the specific load profile of each new campus.
The move follows Crusoe's $3.9 billion Series F earlier this month, which valued the developer at $32 billion, and its multi-year Perplexity deal for NVIDIA GB300 capacity. With ready buyers lined up for compute, Crusoe appears to be prioritising grid- and renewables-connected sites it can bring online quickly, rather than waiting on new turbine hardware.
What Boom Loses And Doesn't Lose
Boom Supersonic's Superpower is a 42 MW natural-gas plant that reuses about 80% of the parts developed for the company's Symphony aircraft engine, a rare crossover between propulsion and stationary power. First deliveries had been scheduled for 2027, and Crusoe's order made up the vast majority of Boom's early book.
CEO Blake Scholl said Boom will still deliver roughly 250 MW of Superpower turbines to other data-center and industrial customers next year, and is targeting 1 GW of installed capacity by 2028. "We're grateful for the help Crusoe gave us in shaping Superpower and continue cheering for their successes," Scholl wrote, adding that he was open to future work if Crusoe's power strategy shifts.
A Signal On AI Power Deals
The cancellation is one of the highest-profile examples so far of an AI data-center operator backing away from a marquee gas-turbine deal, at a moment when hyperscalers are locking in every form of firm power they can source. Crusoe's decision suggests that with a swelling cash pile and hungry AI customers, the developer would rather chase interconnections it can energise this decade than tie itself to a still-unproven turbine.
Reporting based on coverage from TechCrunch.