Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows

Stuck in years-long lines for grid connections and new turbines, some AI data centers are making their own electricity with converted jet engines, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The engines, pulled from retired aircraft and rebuilt to burn natural gas, aren’t anyone’s idea of a permanent power plant. But they’re another sign of how far power supply has fallen behind the AI buildout.

据《纽约时报》周二报道，由于在等待电网连接和新涡轮机的漫长排队中受阻，一些人工智能数据中心正利用改装后的喷气发动机自行发电。这些从退役飞机上拆下并经过改造以燃烧天然气的发动机，并非人们心目中的永久性发电厂，但它们再次表明电力供应已远远落后于人工智能的发展需求。

For companies stuck in those lines, the main draw of converted jet engines is how quickly the engines can be up and running. “It’s all about getting power as fast as possible,” Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen told the Times. With jet-powered units, “they can have a data center running in 24 months,” he said. Hooking up 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia, by comparison, takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency.

对于那些被困在排队中的公司来说，改装喷气发动机的主要吸引力在于其能够快速投入使用。Rystad Energy 分析师奥顿·马丁森（Audun Martinsen）告诉《纽约时报》：“关键在于尽可能快地获得电力。”他表示，使用喷气动力装置，“他们可以在 24 个月内让数据中心运行起来”。相比之下，根据国际能源署的数据，在北弗吉尼亚州将 100 兆瓦电力接入电网大约需要七年时间。

Most power capacity is expected to come on by 2031, an executive at Mitsubishi Power, one of the world’s top makers of power generation equipment, told Bloomberg last week. In some cases, these delays are already costing some data center operators business. Last month, Microsoft pulled out as the anchor customer for Nscale’s data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility said it couldn’t deliver enough power until the early to mid-2030s.

全球顶级发电设备制造商之一三菱动力（Mitsubishi Power）的一位高管上周告诉彭博社，预计大部分电力产能要到 2031 年才能上线。在某些情况下，这些延误已经让一些数据中心运营商损失了业务。上个月，在当地公用事业公司表示要到 2030 年代初至中期才能提供足够电力后，微软退出了作为 Nscale 位于英国劳顿（Loughton）数据中心基石客户的身份。

Elon Musk’s xAI is among the companies already using the engines, having installed eight converted jet-engine turbines in Mississippi to help power its Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, the Times reported, citing state permits and satellite imagery. The units come from ProEnergy, which rebuilds a GE engine commonly found on Boeing jets. In 2025, OpenAI followed Musk’s lead with gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas.

据《纽约时报》援引州政府许可文件和卫星图像报道，埃隆·马斯克的 xAI 公司已在使用此类发动机，该公司在密西西比州安装了八台改装的喷气发动机涡轮机，为其位于孟菲斯（Memphis）的 Colossus 2 数据中心供电。这些装置来自 ProEnergy 公司，该公司负责改造波音飞机上常见的通用电气（GE）发动机。2025 年，OpenAI 效仿马斯克，在其位于德克萨斯州阿比林（Abilene）的首个 Stargate 站点使用了燃气轮机。

Crusoe, a Denver-based startup that builds 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 has also begun selling a version of that jet’s engine as a power plant for data centers. A Crusoe spokesperson told TechCrunch at the time that the company still plans to use turbines.

总部位于丹佛、致力于构建人工智能数据中心的初创公司 Crusoe 正在建设该阿比林园区，并于 4 月订购了 13 台 ProEnergy 的改装装置。9 月，Crusoe 放弃了一项价值 12.5 亿美元的交易，该交易原计划从 Boom Supersonic 购买 29 台天然气涡轮机。Boom Supersonic 是一家正在开发超音速客机的初创公司，也已开始将其喷气发动机的变体作为数据中心发电厂进行销售。Crusoe 发言人当时告诉 TechCrunch，公司仍计划使用涡轮机。

Currently the Trump administration is adding to the pressure by encouraging data centers to generate their own electricity. Converted jet engines come with trade-offs, though: They’re less efficient and pollute more than turbines designed for conventional gas plants, and it takes more of them to make the same amount of power, according to the Times. That may ultimately make converted jet engines a short-term play with some experts saying that efficiency and environmental concerns may grow in importance in a year or two.

目前，特朗普政府通过鼓励数据中心自行发电进一步增加了压力。然而，据《纽约时报》报道，改装喷气发动机也存在权衡：与为传统燃气电厂设计的涡轮机相比，它们的效率较低且污染更严重，并且需要更多的发动机才能产生同等电量。这最终可能使改装喷气发动机成为一种短期方案，一些专家表示，效率和环境问题在未来一两年内可能会变得更加重要。