Batteries are now cheaper than natural gas turbines as the data center boom pushes prices up.
The AI frenzy could push U.S. data centers to become one of the largest consumers of natural gas in the world.
SpaceX confirmed it will power Terafab, its $16.8 billion chip megafactory in Texas, with its own natural gas power plants and “very large battery arrays.” Tesla solar isn’t in the plan.
That’s despite Tesla being a partner on the project, and despite …
SpaceX and Tesla are building a massive semiconductor fab in Texas that will depend on natural gas power plants, not Tesla solar panels.
Microsoft inked a 20-year power purchase agreement with Chevron, locking in decades of carbon emissions from a new natural gas power plant.
Elon Muks’s xAI said it will buy $2.8 billion worth of natural gas turbines over the next three years, according to SpaceX’s IPO filing.
Gas turbines at xAI’s Colossus 2 data center have drawn a lawsuit over the company’s use of “mobile” gas turbines as power plants.
Natural gas power plant costs have nearly doubled in two years and take 23% longer to build as data center electricity demand skyrockets.