NTT Data signed a 900MW fuel cell supply agreement with Bloom Energy, with first deliveries expected next year.
Japanese technology firm NTT Data has signed a 900MW deployment agreement with fuel cell company Bloom Energy to deploy fuel cells across multiple data center projects worldwide.
Under the terms of the agreement, Bloom will supply NTT with its solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems, which will be deployed on-site to power the company's data centers. The partners said that initial shipments of the fuel cell generators are expected to start in 2027.
According to its website, NTT Data Group operates more than 150 data centers in more than 20 countries and regions. In Japan, the company operates data centers in Tokyo (TKY11) and Osaka (OSK11 and OSK12). In October, it was reported that the company was in talks to develop a $6.3 billion data center in Western Japan for Anthropic.
"Our clients are building AI capabilities at a pace the grid alone cannot always match, and speed to power has become one of the defining factors in delivering capacity when and where it's needed," said Doug Adams, CEO of NTT Global Data Centers. "Bloom's onsite power gives us a reliable, scalable way to bring capacity online alongside construction, while honoring our commitment to the communities where we build and operate. Its fuel cells protect local air quality, use minimal water, and run quietly, which matters to us just as much as the megawatts. This agreement gives us a foundation to power our clients' growth across our global portfolio."
Bloom is a developer of SOFC generators, dubbed the Bloom Box, which are stationary power generators that convert fuels into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion. While they can be powered by hydrogen, the vast majority currently rely on natural gas. The deal with NTT represents the firm's largest deal with a single data center developer.
"Companies that can secure power quickly will have a differentiated advantage and accelerated path to revenue," added Aman Joshi, EVP and chief commercial officer at Bloom Energy. "As AI compute makes its way from AI factories to deployment at scale for edge and inference use cases, we at Bloom are uniquely positioned to help our customers meet the moment by enabling time to power with highly reliable, cleaner power that meets AI workload requirements for the digital era."
Bloom has signed a range of deals across the data center spectrum in recent years.
Earlier this year, it expanded an agreement with cloud firm Oracle to supply up to 2.8GW of capacity. The companies signed a deal last year for an initial 1.2GW of capacity. However, deployments of the technology at Oracle's Jupiter data center in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, have faced roadblocks due to opposition to the extension of a gas pipeline expected to feed the facility's fuel cells.
Bloom has also signed deals with Equinix for deployments across 19 data centers with a capacity exceeding 100MW, as well as an agreement with US utility American Electric Power (AEP) for up to 1GW of SOFCs to power AI data centers off-grid. In October, AEP signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Google, which committed to offtake 702MW of power from a fuel cell generation project near Cheyenne, Wyoming, that utilizes Bloom's fuel cells.