GE Vernova's Greenville, South Carolina, gas turbine factory is running at full capacity through 2029 as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle race to secure reliable power for AI data centers, with turbine prices up 300% in three years.
The artificial intelligence buildout has found an unlikely engine: a factory floor in Greenville, South Carolina, where GE Vernova is producing gas turbines at a pace it cannot match fast enough to meet demand.
The turbines, standing 31 feet tall and weighing 280 tons each, are being purchased by the largest names in technology. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle are all acquiring them to supply reliable power to AI data centers at a time when grid bottlenecks are pushing hyperscalers toward standalone energy sources.
"Right now, when you need power at scale and you need firm power, the industrial gas turbine is one of the leading solutions for that," Pablo Koziner, chief commercial and operations officer at GE Vernova, told CNBC.
A single turbine can generate enough electricity to power roughly half a million homes. Microsoft recently purchased seven of them for a data center in Texas — a combined 2.7 gigawatts, or enough capacity to serve approximately 3 million homes.
GE Vernova turbines are also already in service at Elon Musk's xAI Colossus 1 campus in Tennessee, and nearly a gigawatt more are being deployed at OpenAI's Stargate project in Texas, according to Cleanview, an organization that tracks data center development.
The scale of demand has outpaced production capacity. GE Vernova's order book is filled through 2029, with some orders extending to 2031. The company hired 200 workers at the Greenville facility last year and expects 300 more to join by year's end.
"Today, about 20% of our gas power order book is going to a data center, artificial intelligence-type of application," Koziner said.
The supply-demand imbalance has driven prices sharply higher. One turbine can cost more than $250 million, according to industry estimates. Analysts at Melius say prices have risen 300% over the past three years — a figure that helps explain why AI capital expenditure budgets continue to climb, a mounting concern for technology investors.
That spending surge has rewarded GE Vernova shareholders. The company's stock has gained nearly 60% over the past six months.
Executives from nearly every major hyperscaler have toured the Greenville factory floor, according to a person familiar with the visits who asked not to be named because the details are not public. The AI opportunity has also drawn leaders from OpenAI and other companies seeking a closer look at industrial power generation.
Environmental pressure remains a variable. Public opposition to data center development and broader concerns about carbon emissions could complicate the pace of expansion. GE Vernova said it is working to make its turbines more sustainable, with Koziner noting that current models are twice as efficient as turbines the company produced two decades ago.
With order books extending five years out and no near-term substitute for firm, dispatchable power at the scale AI infrastructure requires, GE Vernova's Greenville plant is positioned as a critical — and constrained — link in the AI supply chain for years to come.
TechEchelon Staff bylines are produced collectively by the newsroom for short, breaking, and wire-style coverage. Longer-form reporting is published under the responsible reporter's name.
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