AI power gap drives gas turbine demand, opening export window for Chinese makers

According to an Eastmoney report on November 10, 2026, power demand from AI data centers is tightening the gas turbine market and pushing buyers toward secondhand and refurbished equipment. The article dates the buying surge to November 9. Even as AI stocks were falling, utilities, developers and service providers were still chasing available turbines. Ana Amicarella, CEO of equipment services firm Ethos Energy, said the secondary market is very hot and equipment prices are rising. Aurora Tenorio, senior analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said discussions in the U.S. market center on how to deliver power equipment between 2030 and 2031.

The pressure comes from a widening gap between orders, capacity and expected demand. Wood Mackenzie data show global turbine orders have surpassed 100 GW, well above annual capacity of 60 to 70 GW. Jefferies estimates that U.S. data centers alone will need close to 17 GW this year, with demand potentially more than tripling by 2028. Industry expectations cited in the report put global manufacturing capacity at about 87 GW by 2028, still below 129 GW of power demand, while new turbine deliveries in the U.S. may take six years.

Because the order book exceeds the existing production base by such a wide margin, the report's summary states that China's domestic gas turbine supply chain is entering a window for overseas expansion. That view is attributed to analysts and does not rest on disclosed sales or revenue figures. The available coverage does not yet identify signed overseas contracts, specific export models, or deployment projects, so the story currently stops at an industry-level judgment about demand growth and long delivery cycles rather than confirmed commercial breakthroughs.