Besides having already eaten most sorts of chip production, AI is quickly coming for power sources. Gas turbines are seeing increased demand, and companies like xAI are using tens of units to power their data centers. Now, Boom, known for its supersonic airliner project, has revealed the Superpower turbine with a bang, a new project that will repurpose its aircraft engine tech to power AI data centers.
The Superpower turbine is purportedly "optimized for AI datacenters," a claim boiled down to delivering its full 42 MW with 39% efficiency, at an operating temperature up to a toasty 110° F (43° C). Judging by a quick search, that's significantly higher than contemporary designs, whose output drops at around 86° F (30° C), if not much sooner—and precisely when it's most needed, when servers are working the hardest.
