Akron, Ohio, November 4, 2025- Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) announced a move into the AI data center power market today, signing a limited-notice-to-proceed (LNTP) with Applied Digital to design and install a one-gigawatt electric power plant and pitching its steam-generation approach as a faster, proven route to get capacity online.
The LNTP, described in B&W’s release as the first step toward a project valued at more than USD 1.5 billion, precedes a full contract the companies expect to finalise in the first quarter of 2026.
Under the proposal, B&W would design and install four 300-megawatt natural-gas-fired plants built around mature boiler and steam-turbine technology, with commercial operation targeted to begin in 2028. The firm also stated that it expects to win an ongoing parts-and-services agreement to support the facility once it is operational.
The company frames the choice of boilers plus steam turbines as both efficient and quicker to deploy than some alternatives, allowing Applied Digital to scale power for its AI “factory” sites more rapidly.
Applied Digital’s chief executive, Wes Cummins, said the partnership gives his company “a distinct speed-to-market advantage in bringing power generation online,” praising B&W’s boiler and turbine efficiency compared with simple-cycle options.
B&W’s CEO Kenneth Young highlighted the company’s 400-gigawatt installed footprint and positioned the steam-generation approach as a reliable, redundant solution tailored to the heavy, continuous loads of AI data centers. Both quotes appear in the company statement.
Technically, B&W is pitching established industrial power architecture rather than cutting-edge turbine designs: the plant concept relies on readily available boilers feeding steam turbines, an architecture familiar to utilities and industrial operators, which B&W argues shortens engineering, procurement and construction timelines versus alternatives that can require longer lead times or bespoke equipment. That speed, the company says, matters when hyperscale compute customers need large blocks of power brought online fast.
The announcement carries the usual caveat: B&W’s statement flags the forward-looking nature of the LNTP and warns that the anticipated full notice to proceed, schedule, and final contract value depend on customary approvals and conditions. If the project proceeds on the timescale outlined, the deal would mark a notable industrial approach to meeting AI operators’ appetite for dedicated, high-reliability power while leaning on decades-old thermal-power expertise rather than unproven alternatives.
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