Babcock & Wilcox Partners with Siemens Energy to Power 1GW AI Data Center for Applied Digital

Babcock & Wilcox Partners with Siemens Energy to Power 1GW AI Data Center for Applied Digital

January 8, 2026

As the demand for artificial intelligence computing surges, the race to secure reliable and scalable power for massive data centers has become a critical industry challenge. In a significant move to address this need, power infrastructure firm Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) has selected Siemens Energy to supply steam turbine generator sets for a landmark project that will deliver one gigawatt of power to a planned AI data center developed by Applied Digital.

The agreement, announced this week, follows a deal B&W signed with Applied Digital in November 2024. Under the terms, B&W will construct four natural gas-fired power plants, each with a capacity of 300 megawatts, to exclusively serve the new AI facility. The Ohio-based company stated that it expects to deliver power for the project by the end of 2028. The plants will utilize gas-fired boilers from B&W to supply heat to the Siemens Energy steam turbines, creating an integrated power generation solution.

Kenneth Young, B&W's chairman and CEO, emphasized the strategic nature of the partnership, stating, "This arrangement brings together two companies with long histories of innovation and leadership in the power generation industry. Leveraging Siemens Energy’s advanced turbine technology alongside B&W’s proven boiler systems positions us to meet critical schedule milestones and deliver reliable power by the end of 2028." Tobias Panse, Senior Vice President for Steam Turbines and Generators at Siemens Energy, added, "By pairing our steam turbine systems with B&W’s established boiler technology, we can deliver a straightforward, cohesive setup for large‑scale power."

B&W claims its steam-based generation systems offer a faster deployment timeline compared to traditional simple- or combined-cycle gas plants, presenting a viable alternative for AI developers facing stringent power constraints and tight schedules. This project is part of B&W's broader strategic pivot toward data center energy solutions, which includes a recent partnership with investment firm Denham Capital to convert former coal plants into natural gas facilities to power data centers in the U.S. and Europe.

For Applied Digital, a specialist in developing AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, this power deal underpins its ambitious expansion. The company recently brought the first 50-megawatt phase of its Ellendale, North Dakota, data center online, with the capacity fully leased to cloud provider CoreWeave under a larger 400-megawatt agreement. The new 1-gigawatt project represents a substantial scaling of its infrastructure to meet the explosive computational demands of next-generation AI models.

Source: datacenterdynamics