Elon Musk Quietly Acquires Gas Turbine Company
Elon Musk has purchased APR Energy, a company that builds mobile gas and diesel turbines, in a deal estimated at around $1 billion. The acquisition, which took place in May without public announcement, is likely aimed at providing power for AI data centers.
Elon Musk has added a new and unexpected asset to his portfolio: a fossil fuel company. According to a filing picked up by Electrek, Musk acquired APR Energy earlier this year, in May, with no official announcement from either party. APR Energy specializes in producing mobile gas and diesel turbines that can be mounted on trailers, making them easy to transport and deploy. Electrek estimates the purchase price at approximately $1 billion.
The most probable use for these turbines is to power Musk's xAI data centers, which require enormous amounts of energy to run artificial intelligence systems. APR's mobile turbine fleet resembles the units that xAI was sued for using at a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, over alleged Clean Air Act violations. Since the lawsuit was filed, the number of mobile turbines at that facility has increased significantly. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss the case to allow the military to continue using xAI's Grok AI tool.
This investment marks a sharp reversal from Musk's previous stance on fossil fuels. A decade ago, he called continued reliance on them "the dumbest experiment in history, by far." Now, his business ventures are not only purchasing gas and diesel turbines but also reportedly planning to build a natural gas pipeline in Texas, further deepening involvement with fossil fuels.
