From Gas‑Guzzling Miner to AI Powerhouse
Crusoe started as a modest bitcoin miner that burned off flared natural gas from oil fields. Fast‑forward to today, the Denver startup has raised a staggering $3.9 billion and is now building some of the world’s largest AI data centers, including a sprawling campus in Abilene, Texas that feeds compute to OpenAI.
That meteoric rise made Crusoe a tempting early customer for another Colorado‑based venture: Boom Supersonic’s “Superpower” turbines, a stationary power plant derived from the jet engine technology used in its Overture supersonic aircraft.
The Dream Deal That Never Took Off
In theory, the partnership was a win‑win. Boom would repurpose 80 % of the parts from its Symphony jet engine into 42‑megawatt gas‑fired turbines, while Crusoe would lock in $1.25 billion for 29 units—enough to deliver roughly 1.2 GW of clean, on‑site power for its Texas campus. Delivery was slated to begin in 2027.
But the deal fell apart before the first turbine even rolled off the line. Boom’s CEO Blake Scholl announced on X that Crusoe’s near‑term power mix no longer includes the turbines, making the launch partnership “just didn’t make sense.”
- Crusoe redirected its capital toward other energy sources.
- Boom will still ship about 250 MW of turbines to other customers next year.
- The goal of 1 GW of Superpower capacity by 2028 remains on Boom’s roadmap.
What This Split Reveals About AI‑Scale Energy Strategies
Crusoe’s pivot highlights a broader tension in the AI infrastructure world: the scramble for reliable, low‑cost power versus the risk of locking into unproven technologies. While Boom’s turbines promise high efficiency and a reuse of aerospace engineering, they also require substantial upfront commitment and carry the uncertainty of a new market.
For AI data centers, flexibility is becoming a competitive advantage. Companies are hedging with a mix of renewable contracts, grid power, and modular generators, rather than betting everything on a single, novel source.
Moreover, the split underscores the importance of timing. Crusoe’s massive raise gives it the luxury to re‑evaluate its energy roadmap, whereas Boom still needs to secure other customers to justify the massive manufacturing run.
In short, the fallout isn’t a failure of turbine tech—it’s a sign that AI operators are prioritizing proven, scalable power solutions over experimental synergies, at least for now.
Future collaborations may still happen, but they’ll likely be contingent on clearer cost‑benefit data and a more mature market for aerospace‑derived stationary power.
As AI workloads continue to explode, the industry will watch closely how new energy models either accelerate or stall the race to compute dominance.
Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels
