The fastest way to power an AI data center right now is a natural gas turbine. GE Vernova just posted earnings that show how big that bet has gotten.
The Cambridge-based power gear maker booked $18.3 billion in Q1 2026 orders. That's a 71% jump from a year ago.
Total backlog hit $163 billion, up 40% year over year. The stock jumped 13% on the news.
For investors trying to figure out what the AI race actually pays for, this is the receipt.
Solar and wind need the right weather. Nuclear plants take a decade.
Grid hookups take years.
Gas turbines can sit next to a data center and start making power in months. Sometimes days.
That speed is why cloud giants are signing for the gear early. They're locking in supply before site plans are done.
GE Vernova ended 2025 with a roughly 80-gigawatt gas turbine backlog. Slots stretch into 2029.
That's enough power to run about 60 million homes.
The other half of GE Vernova's growth is in what it calls grid gear. That's transformers, switches, and high-voltage parts.
They move power from where it's made to where it's used. AI data centers need all of that too.
That unit's sales grew 61% year over year in Q1. Sales hit just under $3 billion. The backlog has grown to about $42 billion.
At the end of 2022, it was just $9 billion.
Prolec GE is the transformer arm GE Vernova fully owns now. It told investors that data centers were 10% of sales in 2024.
That share will hit 20% in 2025.
Baker Hughes (BKR) is the other big name. It builds what folks call "energy islands." Those are turbine and engine packs dropped onto data center sites.
The firm hasn't broken out AI-specific sales. But the unit is growing.
The global gas turbine market is set to grow fast. It will go from $24.7 billion in 2026 to $43.5 billion by 2034, per Fortune Business Insights.
GE Vernova's 80-gigawatt backlog says a lot of that growth is already booked.
GE Vernova's order book is one of the cleanest reads on AI power demand. As long as the orders keep flowing, the AI buildout is more than just talk.
The firm raised its 2026 sales outlook to $44.5 to $45.5 billion on the latest report. That's up from a prior forecast of $44 to $45 billion.
Investors who want a read on the AI boom can watch the turbine guys. Not just the chip makers.
The AI story shows up there first, and in big numbers.
The next set of quarterly orders is the next checkpoint. If the pace holds, the 2029 backlog could keep stretching out.
That's a long runway for any one firm to have.
For now, the orders keep stacking up. The 80-gigawatt slot list shows there's no near-term ceiling on AI power demand.
That's why the firm has been one of the best-performing power names this year.
