AI Data Centers Turn to Retired Jet Engines to Bypass Grid Delays
Companies like xAI and OpenAI are deploying modified retired jet engines to power data centers, cutting electricity acquisition time from years to about two.
Some AI data centers are generating their own electricity using converted jet engines pulled from retired aircraft, according to a New York Times report. These engines, rebuilt to burn natural gas, are not intended as permanent power plants but highlight how far power supply has fallen behind the AI buildout.
For companies stuck in long queues for grid connections, the main draw of converted jet engines is speed. "It's all about getting power as fast as possible," said Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen. He noted that with jet-powered units, "they can have a data center running in 24 months." By comparison, hooking up 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Most new power capacity is expected to come online by 2031, an executive at Mitsubishi Power told Bloomberg last week.
These delays are already costing some operators business. Last month, Microsoft withdrew as the anchor customer for Nscale’s data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility stated it could not deliver sufficient power until the early to mid-2030s. Elon Musk’s xAI is among the companies already using these engines, having installed eight converted jet-engine turbines in Mississippi to help power its Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, citing state permits and satellite imagery. The units come from ProEnergy, which rebuilds GE engines commonly found on Boeing jets.
In 2025, OpenAI followed Musk’s lead with gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe, a Denver-based startup building AI data centers, is constructing that Abilene campus and ordered 13 of ProEnergy’s converted units in April. In September, Crusoe walked away from a $1.25 billion deal to buy 29 natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic, a startup developing a supersonic passenger jet that also sells a version of its engine as a power plant for data centers. A Crusoe spokesperson told TechCrunch at the time that the company still plans to use turbines, just not Boom’s.