en.Wedoany.com Reported - The accelerated construction of large-scale data centers is driving strong demand for the gas turbine industry. Microsoft recently purchased seven large gas turbines from U.S. energy company GE Vernova to power its data centers in Texas, reflecting tech giants' urgent need for stable electricity amid the AI computing power race.
Multiple hyperscale cloud service companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Oracle, and SpaceX, are accelerating the construction of AI data centers to provide computing power for running artificial intelligence models from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. However, many tech firms have found that local grid power supply speeds cannot meet demand, leading some to turn to building their own gas-fired power stations, with gas turbines being the core equipment.
A giant machine approximately 9.4 meters long demonstrates the basic working principle of a gas turbine: natural gas burns inside the unit to generate power, driving blades to rotate at high speed, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy through a generator, ultimately providing continuous power to large data centers. Despite a unit price exceeding $250 million, market demand for this complex equipment still far outstrips supply. GE Vernova's Chief Commercial and Operations Officer, Pablo Koziner, noted that about 20% of orders for gas power generation come from data center and AI-related projects, with company orders booked through 2030 or even 2031.
U.S. investment research firm Melius Research estimates that gas turbine prices have cumulatively risen by approximately 300% over the past three years. GE Vernova's stock price has increased by over 70% in the past six months, while competitors such as Caterpillar and Siemens have also achieved rapid growth.
Environmental controversies surrounding the use of gas turbines for data center power generation have emerged. GE Vernova stated that it is continuously improving gas turbine efficiency, with the latest products now achieving double the power generation efficiency compared to 20 years ago, delivering more electricity while reducing fuel consumption. Multiple experts pointed out that gas turbines alone are insufficient to meet all energy demands of the AI era, and future data centers will still require a mix of energy solutions. Building a more stable and efficient energy system will become a key challenge for the development of the AI industry.
