Why America’s AI data center companies are turning to airplane ‘graveyards’

At a time when the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has sparked a surge in electricity demand, American AI data centre companies are finding new ways to power their infrastructure. While some are turning towards massive solar and wind farms, others are striking deals to use nuclear power to keep the servers running. Now, they are reportedly turning to Arizona’s Sonoran desert where thousands of retired airplanes with jet engines mounted sit in vast metal graveyards. Those turbines are being resurrected to keep the servers running. The New York Times reported that a growing roster of engineering firms is stripping engines from decommissioned aircraft and converting them into stationary electrical generators with data center operators snapping them up as fast as they can be built.