U.S. data center operators are pulling retired jet engines from aircraft boneyards, rebuilding them to burn natural gas, and using them to generate electricity on-site — a workaround that can deliver power in as little as 24 months while grid-connection queues stretch years longer1,2.
The practice, reported by the New York Times on November 3, reflects how far power supply has fallen behind the AI infrastructure buildout. Converted jet engines are not designed as permanent power plants, but for operators stuck in multi-year interconnection lines, speed is the priority.
Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen told the New York Times that jet-powered units can have a data center running in 24 months. By contrast, connecting 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Most new power capacity is expected to come online by 2031, a Mitsubishi Power executive told Bloomberg the prior week.
The delays are already costing operators business. In October 2026, Microsoft pulled out as the anchor customer for Nscale's data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility said it could not deliver sufficient power until the early-to-mid 2030s.
The converted engines are described as less efficient and less environmentally friendly than purpose-built generation equipment. Thousands of retired aircraft sit in desert boneyards across Arizona's Sonoran desert, providing a supply of engines that can be repurposed.
ANALYSIS The jet-engine workaround illustrates a widening gap between AI compute demand and the pace of grid expansion — operators are accepting efficiency and emissions penalties to avoid years-long power delays that can derail entire projects, as the Microsoft-Nscale cancellation showed.