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Crusoe abandons $1.25B plan to use Boom turbines at AI data centers
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Crusoe has abandoned a $1.25 billion plan to use Boom Supersonic’s natural-gas-fired Superpower turbines at its AI data centers, ending the companies’ launch partnership just as the Denver-based data-center startup announced a $3.9 billion funding round. The reversal means Boom will not supply 29 of its 42-megawatt turbines to Crusoe, including units initially scheduled for delivery in 2027. Both companies said they remain open to working together if turbine power later becomes central to a Crusoe site.
Crusoe began in 2018 as a bitcoin miner that monetized excess natural gas from oil fields, then evolved into one of the country’s largest builders of AI computing campuses. Its flagship Abilene, Texas, project includes infrastructure built for Oracle and OpenAI, reflecting the startup’s expansion from cryptocurrency mining into cloud-scale AI services. Boom, meanwhile, is best known for developing the Overture supersonic passenger aircraft, but last year launched a stationary-power business around Symphony, an engine designed for that aircraft.
The proposed transaction would have made Crusoe Boom’s first Superpower customer and committed it to $1.25 billion for 29 turbines, a total capacity of 1.218 gigawatts. The Superpower design shares roughly 80 percent of its parts with the airborne Symphony engine, allowing Boom to commercialize aircraft technology in a separate market. Deliveries were expected to begin in 2027, but that timetable and the broader launch arrangement no longer apply following the companies’ decision to part ways.
Boom CEO Blake Scholl announced the change on X after congratulating Crusoe founders Cully Cavness and Chase Lochmiller on their fundraising news. He said turbines are no longer part of Crusoe’s near-term primary power mix at Abilene or other campuses, making the launch partnership impractical, while maintaining that additional customers remain in the pipeline. Scholl added that Boom expects to deliver about 250 megawatts of Superpower systems in 2026 and is targeting 1 gigawatt in 2028.
The shift matters because a first customer of that scale was intended to validate Boom’s entry into stationary power and generate revenue for Overture’s development. Boom raised $300 million last year largely to commercialize the turbine business, so losing Crusoe removes a major anchor customer, even if Scholl says other buyers are interested. For Crusoe, the decision preserves flexibility across a portfolio that now spans multiple states and power requirements rather than locking a large number of turbines into its early network.
Crusoe confirmed to TechCrunch that it is no longer doing business with Boom. Spokesperson Andrew Schmitt said the company builds AI factories from the power up and selects energy solutions as each site evolves, citing wind, solar, batteries, grid connections and turbines among its options. He described Boom as a valuable partner but said the arrangement was not the right fit today, and the company wished Boom well; Scholl similarly thanked Crusoe for helping shape Superpower and said a future reunion remains possible.
Technology choices at Abilene clarify the immediate impact. Crusoe’s initial 1.2-gigawatt campus for Oracle and OpenAI is connected to the electric grid, while an on-site gas plant serves only as backup; a separate 900-megawatt campus under construction for Microsoft is expected to rely on on-site gas turbines. The cancellation therefore does not stall those projects, but it weakens Boom’s opportunity to establish a major AI-data-center foothold. Looking ahead, Boom’s 2026 deliveries will test whether demand outside Crusoe can support rapid turbine scaling, while Crusoe’s expanding campus pipeline should keep it shopping among grid power, renewables, storage, reciprocating engines and gas generation.
