Jul 17, 2026
As firms rush to stock up on memory chips in the midst of a chip shortage dubbed RAMageddon, Elon Musk is investing an estimated $1 billion into something completely different, that’s proving to be just as crucial to scaling up AI infrastructure: power.
Musk just purchased APR Energy, a company whose entire business is in fossil fuels. Given that he made his career in big tech and electric vehicles, the move may seem counterintuitive, but it’s more forward-looking than it seems.
What exactly does APR Energy do?
APR provides mobile, on-demand gas and diesel power solutions, with enough turbines on hand to generate in excess of 1.1 gigawatts — enough electricity for nearly a million homes. While its historic focus has been largely in servicing industrial, emergency and bridging operations, the brand has pivoted to advertising its vast potential for AI projects, including data centers.
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“Whether you need rapid, permanent on-site power for data centers and industrial operations or fast-track emergency support, we’re ready to deploy when and where you need it,” its website reads.
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On-site power may have to be the way of the future
Of course, with the immense energy demands of data hubs already straining America’s grids before 1,700 more campuses-in-progress even come online, having an independent power source will likely be vital to tech giants moving forward.
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Google, Amazon, Meta and others have been exploring various types of direct, on-location power generation over the last few years, and rightfully so, as some AI facilities are forecasted to use double the energy than entire states. Along with being politically contentious, relying on the grid may simply not be feasible for such large projects, especially during the start-up phase, when speed to meet usage needs and thwart competition is of the essence.
APR’s promise of “robust, scalable, and energy-efficient” utilities is what is perhaps most appealing, as the company offers 30- to 60-day turnarounds for infrastructure that would otherwise take years. Owning a power plant, for Musk, means being able to bypass the bottlenecks posed by an unfathomable (and surging) level of demand on limited networks already struggling to serve the general public as is, and the red tape that comes with them.
In addition, the non-renewable aspect isn’t anything new for the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, who already uses fossil fuel power at some of the computing properties of SpaceX’s artificial intelligence arm, xAI. That use, though, landed the subsidiary in litigious hot water, with advocacy groups arguing that the temporary methane turbines at Musk’s Colossus data centers — which power xAI’s Grok, not only a popular large language model but a crucial tool of the US military — violated the Clean Air Act.
A Federal Trade Commission filing from May confirmed Musk as the new owner of APR Energy. Some speculate it could put him far ahead of the game in more ways than one, but could also present issues with emissions and public pushback.
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter at Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with more than a decade covering news at outlets like blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's attended writing residencies around the world. With 33 countries visited, she finds travel to be among her greatest inspirations.
