Crusoe drops $1.25B Boom turbine plan for AI data centers — SkimNews
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- Crusoe ended a $1.25 billion agreement to deploy 29 of Boom Supersonic's 42-megawatt Superpower turbines at its AI data centers, with first deliveries originally slated for 2027
- Boom's Superpower turbine shares about 80% of its parts with the Symphony engine being developed for Boom's Overture supersonic passenger jet
- Boom CEO Blake Scholl said on X that turbines are no longer part of Crusoe's near-term primary power mix at Abilene, while noting roughly 250MW of Superpower deliveries are planned for next year to other sites and a 1GW target for 2028
- Crusoe's 1.2-gigawatt Abilene campus, built for Oracle and OpenAI, runs primarily on grid power with gas turbines as backup, while a separate 900MW Abilene facility for Microsoft will use on-site gas turbines
- Boom raised $300 million last year largely to commercialize the Superpower business, which Scholl previously said was intended to use profits to fund development of the Overture jet
Why it matters: Boom just lost the launch customer that anchored its $300 million stationary-power business, which was designed to cross-subsidize Overture jet development. With Crusoe pivoting to grid power and dedicated gas turbines at its Microsoft site, Boom must convert its other pipeline customers to hit its 250MW-2027 and 1GW-2028 targets without a flagship deployment.
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