Memphis — Data Centers Turn to Old Jet Engines for Power

Some artificial intelligence data center operators, unable to wait years for grid connections or new turbines, are installing converted jet engines pulled from retired aircraft to generate their own electricity, according to a New York Times report published Tuesday and cited by TechCrunch. The engines are rebuilt to burn natural gas and installed on-site, bypassing the queue for utility hookups and new gas turbines built for power plants.

The approach is not meant as a permanent fix. It is a response to a gap between how fast companies want to build AI data centers and how slowly the power grid and turbine manufacturers can supply them.

Why are companies choosing jet engines over waiting for the grid?

Speed is the entire case for converted jet engines. "It's all about getting power as fast as possible," Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen told the Times. With jet-powered units, Martinsen said, "they can have a data center running in 24 months."

That timeline looks fast next to conventional alternatives. Connecting 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia, one of the country's densest data center corridors, takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Most new power capacity ordered today is not expected to come online until 2031, an executive at Mitsubishi Power, one of the world's largest makers of power generation equipment, told Bloomberg last week.

"It's all about getting power as fast as possible." — Audun Martinsen, Rystad Energy

Who has already installed converted jet engines?

Elon Musk's xAI is among the earliest adopters, 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 used on Boeing jets.

OpenAI followed in 2025, adding gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe, the Denver-based startup building that Abilene campus, ordered 13 of ProEnergy's converted units in April.

Not every turbine deal has held. In September, Crusoe walked away from a $1.25 billion agreement to buy 29 natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic, the startup developing a supersonic passenger jet that has also begun marketing 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, without specifying a replacement supplier.

What is the grid delay costing data center operators?

The wait has already cost at least one company business. Microsoft pulled out last month as the anchor customer for Nscale's data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility said it could not deliver enough power until the early to mid-2030s, according to the Times' reporting cited by TechCrunch.

The Trump administration is adding to the push toward self-generated power, encouraging data centers to produce their own electricity rather than wait on utilities, TechCrunch reported.

What trade-offs come with running data centers on jet engines?

Converted jet engines are less efficient than turbines purpose-built for conventional gas plants, and they pollute more per unit of electricity produced, according to the Times. It also takes more of them to generate the same amount of power as a dedicated gas turbine. Some energy experts told the Times that efficiency and environmental concerns tied to these units may carry more weight within a year or two, as the current rush to open data centers gives way to longer-term power planning.

The numbers behind the rush

• 24 months: estimated time to bring a data center online using converted jet-engine turbines, per Rystad Energy's Audun Martinsen.
• ~7 years: time to connect 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia, per the International Energy Agency.
• 2031: year most new power generation capacity on order is expected to arrive, per a Mitsubishi Power executive cited by Bloomberg.
• 8: converted jet-engine turbines xAI installed in Mississippi for its Memphis Colossus 2 site, per state permits and satellite imagery cited by the Times.
• 13: ProEnergy converted units ordered by Crusoe in April for OpenAI's Stargate site in Abilene, Texas.
• $1.25 billion: value of the Boom Supersonic turbine deal Crusoe walked away from in September.

What to watch

• Whether other AI data center developers beyond xAI, OpenAI's partners, and Crusoe adopt converted jet-engine turbines as a bridge power source.
• How state and local regulators respond to emissions from jet-engine units, given that they pollute more than purpose-built gas turbines, per the Times.
• Whether Trump administration policy encouraging self-generated power accelerates adoption or draws new environmental review.
• Whether grid connection timelines in markets like Northern Virginia shorten as utilities respond to data center demand.
• Whether Crusoe or other operators strike new turbine supply deals after the Boom Supersonic agreement fell through.