OpenAI follows Elon Musk’s lead — gas turbines to be deployed at its first Stargate site for additional power

Gas Turbine
(Image credit: Ge Vernova)

OpenAI is following in the steps of Elon Musk and is reportedly planning to deploy gas turbines at its first Stargate data center site in Abilene, Texas. According to a SemiAnalysis post on X, 29 GE Vernova LM2500XPRESS gas turbines have reportedly been acquired for the data center, with each one capable of producing 34MW. If all the turbines are installed on the site, it would mean a total output of 986MW — nearly enough energy to power 500,000 GB200 NVL72 chips.

Crusoe, the AI infrastructure company building the first OpenAI Stargate data center, just announced that it has acquired these turbine generators “to provide flexible and efficient power to energy intense data centers supporting AI applications.” The GE LM2500EXPRESS units are described as having the quick response of jet engines, allowing them to adjust their output quickly and ensure a smooth transition between sources, thereby maintaining continuous power. They also come with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology, reducing nitrogen oxide emissions.

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Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • jp7189
    Are they also going to deploy massive battery packs to further smooth out grid demand? I don't care how 'fast' GE claims the turbines can change output, they aren't going to keep up with the sub second fluctuations of banks of GPUs.

    I believe that was a very considerate thing xai did for their design... though that seems to get overlooked.
    Reply
  • m3city
    I am soo hoping all these will crash, shareholders will demans heads. Sure, ordinary ppl will get that as well, but will find the way for new jobs. Ai dot com should die in this form. Give that cash to scientists to develop more efficient algorithms and to make use of it to amend real life problems instead of nicer image generation and non hallucinating llm.
    Reply
  • SomeoneElse23
    m3city said:
    I am soo hoping all these will crash, shareholders will demans heads. Sure, ordinary ppl will get that as well, but will find the way for new jobs. Ai dot com should die in this form. Give that cash to scientists to develop more efficient algorithms and to make use of it to amend real life problems instead of nicer image generation and non hallucinating llm.
    I'm with you, but the peons have little to say about things it seems. :(

    They either think there's a whole ton of money to be made by this (nVidia anyone?), or a whole lot of control. Those are the two factors that drive corporations and governments.

    The best interests of humanity tend to come in last.
    Reply
  • m3city
    SomeoneElse23 said:
    I'm with you, but the peons have little to say about things it seems. :(

    They either think there's a whole ton of money to be made by this (nVidia anyone?), or a whole lot of control. Those are the two factors that drive corporations and governments.

    The best interests of humanity tend to come in last.
    Well, nvidia does make a ton of money. Hope they use all that to see "terrain ahead, pull up" early enough to turn production knobs down a little bit, or else they will burn as well.
    Reply
  • coolviper777
    We are being sold a bill of goods with AI. It's massively overhyped. Can it be useful in some situations? Sure. Let's not forget or be deceived. AI is just an algorithm coupled with a big dataset, which is used to craft responses. People mistake real human intelligence with the AI illusion of intelligence.

    The world really doesn't need AI, and certainly doesn't need the massive power usage that comes with it. You know who does need it? All the corporations who are making billions of it by convincing all the other corporations they need it!
    Reply
  • Captain_Nemo
    That. There. 😞
    Reply
  • Captain_Nemo
    Someday, someone is going to throw the big red switch on the newest A.I. data center and the entire planet will go up in a puff of illogic. Converted "marine turbines" be damned. 🤦🤷
    Reply