Baker Hughes’ 2025 Pivot: How Hydrogen-Ready Gas Turbines are Powering the AI Boom

Industry Adoption: Baker Hughes’ Strategic Shift to Data Center Power Generation

Between 2021 and 2024, Baker Hughes laid the foundational groundwork for a strategic pivot from its legacy oil and gas focus toward the high-growth data center market. The company identified the exponential growth in electricity demand from AI and LLMs as a critical opportunity, adapting its existing industrial technology, particularly its NovaLT™ gas turbines. This period was characterized by strategic positioning and technological validation. Key moves included a 2022 organizational restructure into the Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segment to sharpen focus on new growth areas and a critical technical milestone in 2024: the successful testing of NovaLT™ turbines to run on 100% hydrogen. This “molecule-agnostic” approach created a powerful value proposition, offering data center operators a reliable power source for today (natural gas) with a clear decarbonization pathway for tomorrow. Early commercial signals, such as a contract with packager TURBINE-X Energy Inc. and a partnership with Frontier Infrastructure for a 256 MW power project, demonstrated initial market entry and the viability of its strategy.

The year 2025 marked a dramatic inflection point, shifting from groundwork to aggressive commercial execution and market capture. The pivot is no longer aspirational; it is a core revenue driver. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, Baker Hughes secured over $550 million in data center-related orders, booking solutions for 1.2 gigawatts of power within the year. The landmark $13.6 billion acquisition of Chart Industries transformed the company from a component supplier into an integrated solutions provider, adding critical cooling and gas processing technologies to its power generation offering. This creates a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for data center energy infrastructure. Furthermore, the strategy broadened beyond gas turbines with a partnership with Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to develop 500 MW of geothermal power, directly targeting the need for baseload clean energy. This shift from selling individual technologies to delivering integrated, full-lifecycle power and decarbonization solutions signifies a new level of market adoption and a clear threat to competitors as Baker Hughes rapidly solidifies its position as a key enabler of the physical infrastructure behind the AI revolution.

Table: Strategic Investments Fueling Baker Hughes’ Data Center Ambitions

Table: Key Partnerships Driving Baker Hughes’ Integrated Data Center Solutions

Geographic Focus: Baker Hughes’ Data Center Power Plays in North America and Beyond

Between 2021 and 2024, Baker Hughes’ geographic activity was concentrated in its core innovation and manufacturing hubs. Investments in its Talamona, Italy, plant and the establishment of a new hydrogen test stand in Florence positioned Europe as the technological backbone for its future power generation offerings. In parallel, the opening of a new Houston headquarters and early-stage partnerships with U.S.-based firms like Bloom Energy and Frontier Infrastructure signaled that North America was the intended primary market for this strategic pivot. The company’s work deploying remote operations infrastructure for Aramco across over 200 sites in the Middle East, while not a data center project, showcased its capability to manage complex, data-intensive infrastructure on a global scale.

From 2025 onwards, the geographic focus has decisively shifted from development to large-scale commercial deployment, with the United States as the clear epicenter. The major award from Frontier Infrastructure to supply 16 NovaLT™ turbines for 270 MW of power is for projects specifically located in Wyoming and Texas, cementing these states as key battlegrounds for data center power. The massive order book, with 1.2 GW of solutions booked in 2025, is primarily driven by the North American market. However, the company is already laying the groundwork for global expansion. The €300 million investment to expand manufacturing in Italy is explicitly tied to meeting rising global demand from data centers. Furthermore, the MoU with DataVolt to power data centers globally, including the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia, indicates a clear ambition to replicate its U.S. success in other high-growth regions.

Technology Maturity: Baker Hughes’ Path from Hydrogen-Ready Turbines to Commercial Scale

In the 2021–2024 period, Baker Hughes focused on validating its core technology and establishing its future-proof credentials. The most significant milestone was moving its hydrogen-capable turbines from concept to reality, with the successful 2024 test of a NovaLT™ turbine on 100% hydrogen. This shifted the technology from the lab to the demonstration stage, providing a tangible proof point for its decarbonization roadmap. During this time, its digital solutions like the BHC3™ AI suite were already commercially mature and being deployed. However, the application of its power generation technology to the data center market was still in the early commercialization phase, evidenced by initial contracts with packagers like TURBINE-X and the announcement of a future 256 MW project with Frontier Infrastructure. The technology was proven, but its large-scale adoption in this new market was just beginning.

The period from 2025 to today represents a rapid acceleration to commercial scale and the maturation of an integrated technology strategy. The NovaLT™ gas turbine is no longer a pilot product for this market; it is a core commercial offering at scale, validated by over $550 million in Q2 orders and 1.2 gigawatts booked for data center solutions. The key technological shift is the move from selling a single product to commercializing a complete, integrated system. The $13.6 billion acquisition of Chart Industries was the catalyst, elevating the strategy to include cooling and creating an end-to-end infrastructure solution. Concurrently, the partnership with Frontier to pair gas turbines with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) moves decarbonization from a future promise (hydrogen) to a present-day deployable solution. While CCS and the new 500 MW geothermal partnership with CTR are in earlier development stages, they demonstrate a mature, portfolio-based approach to meeting customer needs across the energy transition spectrum.

Table: SWOT Analysis: Baker Hughes’ Data Center Power Generation Strategy

Forward-Looking Insights and Summary

The data from 2025 signals that Baker Hughes has successfully transitioned its data center strategy from an emerging initiative to a core pillar of its growth. For the year ahead, market actors should watch three key signals. First is the execution of its integrated strategy. The first joint power-and-cooling project leveraging the Chart Industries acquisition will be a critical proof point of the deal’s strategic value. Second, progress on the decarbonization front is paramount. Any tangible milestone on the 500 MW geothermal project with CTR or the deployment of the first integrated power-plus-CCS facility with Frontier will validate the company’s “beyond gas” narrative and address significant ESG concerns from tech clients. Finally, competitive dynamics will intensify. With competitors like Siemens Energy now fully engaged, the market will be watching for Baker Hughes’ ability to maintain its order momentum and defend its market share against rivals offering similar solutions. The focus is no longer on entering the market, but on dominating it through superior technology integration and flawless project execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Baker Hughes targeting the data center market?
Baker Hughes identified the exponential growth in electricity demand from AI and large language models (LLMs) as a critical opportunity. The AI boom requires massive, reliable power, creating a new high-growth market that the company can serve by adapting its industrial energy technology.

What is a ‘hydrogen-ready’ gas turbine and why is it significant?
A ‘hydrogen-ready’ gas turbine, like Baker Hughes’ NovaLT™, can operate on natural gas today but has been successfully tested to run on 100% hydrogen. This is significant because it provides data center operators with a reliable power source for their immediate needs while offering a clear future decarbonization pathway by allowing a switch to clean hydrogen fuel when it becomes commercially viable.

What was the purpose of the $13.6 billion acquisition of Chart Industries?
The acquisition transformed Baker Hughes from a component supplier into an integrated solutions provider. By acquiring Chart Industries, which specializes in cooling and gas processing technologies, Baker Hughes can now offer a comprehensive, end-to-end power and cooling solution for data center energy infrastructure.

Is Baker Hughes only providing natural gas-based power solutions?
No. While its NovaLT™ gas turbines are a core offering, Baker Hughes is broadening its strategy to include clean energy. The article highlights a partnership with Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to develop 500 MW of geothermal power and work with Frontier Infrastructure to pair gas turbines with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), providing multiple decarbonization options.

How successful has this strategic pivot been for Baker Hughes in 2025?
The pivot has been highly successful, moving from a foundational stage to aggressive commercial execution. In 2025, the company secured over $550 million in data center-related orders in a single quarter and booked solutions for a total of 1.2 gigawatts of power, establishing this new focus as a core revenue driver.