American Supercritical raises $8M to make data-center gas turbines more efficient
What's the deal? American SupercriticalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → came out of stealth in September 2026 with $8 million in funding to retrofit the gas turbines that power data centers. Its technology uses supercritical carbon dioxide to squeeze more electricity from existing turbines without adding emissions.
How it works: Carbon dioxide becomes supercritical when pressurised and held at a set temperature, gaining the density of a liquid while behaving like a gas. In that state it moves energy through much smaller equipment, letting the company capture waste heat from a turbine's exhaust to generate additional power.
Why now? Many US data centers run on simple-cycle turbines that convert only about 35% of their energy into electricity, with the rest escaping as exhaust. Combined-cycle plants reach 60 to 65%, but data centers have opted for the cheaper, dirtier setup as power demand climbs.
American Supercritical wants to close that gap. "We're essentially building miniature combined-cycle plants," says cofounder Simon Shuham. By its math, adding its units could lift turbine efficiency by up to 50% with no extra emissions or water use.
What's the endgame? The company plans to first sell a 10-megawatt unit — small by gas-plant standards — and attach it to existing turbines. "We want to start with gas turbines but eventually expand beyond that," Shuham says.
The system runs CO2 in a closed loop, so it never needs refilling. Cofounder Matthew Carlson, who researched supercritical CO2 for more than a decade, likens it to refrigeration systems that circulate CO2 for cooling.
What could go wrong? Efficiency gains do not erase emissions. The turbines still burn natural gas, which warms the planet, and data centers remain a fast-growing source of pollution. A single Amazon data-center power plant in Texas, built with simple-cycle turbines, is permitted to emit more than 33 million tons of greenhouse gases a year — more than some small countries.
The signal: As AI drives power demand higher, investors are backing ways to wring more output from the fossil-fuel infrastructure already being built. American Supercritical is betting that making dirty turbines less wasteful is a nearer-term sell than replacing them.
Read more: WIRED
Image credit: squeaks2569
