PREVIEW

Jet engines may be the answer to the AI boom’s eyewatering power demands - at last that’s what one company hopes.

Boom Supersonic are known as a leading pioneer of jet aviation and are planning to bring the first supersonic airliner since Concorde back to the skies.

However, Colorado company has now built Superpower, a 42-megawatt natural gas turbine designed to provide electricity to AI data centres, drawing on technology developed for Boom’s Symphony jet engine programme.

The firm says the shared supersonic engine core enables sustained high power output, even in harsh thermal conditions. It believes the system will support gigawatts of capacity for data-centre operators while also generating reliability data crucial to the development of the Overture airliner.

“Supersonic technology is an accelerant—of course for faster flight, but now for artificial intelligence as well,” said Blake Scholl, founder and chief executive of Boom Supersonic. “With this financing and our first order for Superpower, Boom is funded to deliver both our engine and our airliner.”

Unlike many traditional turbines, Superpower is designed to maintain full generation capacity in extreme heat and does not require water - a growing concern in regions where data-centre cooling is putting pressure on local supplies.
Crusoe has ordered 29 Superpower units for its expanding AI data-centre network.

“Boom’s innovative approach to power turbine technology builds on the company’s impressive breakthroughs in supersonic flight. At Crusoe we are continuously searching for new approaches to increase real-world performance and accelerate time-to-power across our portfolio of energy assets and operations,” said Chase Lochmiller, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “We’re proud to be partnering closely with Boom as the launch customer for Superpower, an initiative that aligns perfectly with Crusoe’s energy-first approach to building the AI infrastructure of the future.”

Boom expects to scale turbine production to more than four gigawatts annually by 2030. It says Superpower will offer “dramatically better real-world price performance” than existing aeroderivative engines, delivering 42MW from a container-sized package, full output in temperatures above 110°F (43°C), waterless operation and clean natural-gas capability with diesel backup.

The Series B round will also fully support development of the Symphony engine, with future Superpower revenues intended to help fund the certification and delivery of Overture.

“Darsana looks forward to partnering with Boom to help develop state-of-the-art energy generation to power America’s AI revolution, all at supersonic speeds,” said Steve Friedman, Partner at Darsana Capital. “Boom has assembled an incredible team and executed with impressive discipline. Their focus on first delivering supersonic technology to create a high-performance power turbine business reflects a smart, capital-efficient path to building the next great American industrial company.”

Superpower will be manufactured in the United States as part of what Boom describes as a contribution to “American reindustrialisation”.
The company says 95% of components for the Symphony engine core prototype are already in production, with testing due to begin in 2026 at its Colorado facility.

Boom’s Overture order book currently stands at 130 aircraft, including commitments from United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines.