The gas turbine crunch

Catalyst · 26 Dec 2025 · 38m

What this episode covers

Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, explains that gas turbine lead times have stretched to 36-48 months due to a supply crunch driven by data center demand, coal retirements, and aerospace competition. He notes that while OEMs like GE Vernova, Siemens, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are investing in capacity, raw material costs and competing industries are keeping prices up 30-35%. Brough highlights that efficiency improvements are gradual, reaching 62%, while hydrogen readiness remains a long-term challenge due to fuel availability.

Mentioned

Companies
Dora Partners, GE Vernova, Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Solar Turbines, Caterpillar, Enron, NextEra, Chevron, EnergyHub

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Additive Snack · 1h 01m

    AM in Turbomachinery: Deep dive in Applications, Materials, Production & Qualification

    Dr. Ilya Fedorov, an R&D project manager at Siemens Energy, explains how additive manufacturing, specifically laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), is transforming gas turbine design, production, and repair. He details the development of complex combustion components, such as hydrogen-ready burners and turbine guide vanes with internal cooling channels, which offer performance improvements and supply chain resilience. The discussion covers the rigorous qualification processes, including 30,000 hours of engine testing, and the shift toward developing new alloys specifically optimized for additive processes rather than just replicating conventional casting materials.

  • The Circuit · 51m

    EP 138: Talking GPU Depreciation, OCP Takeaways

    Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the debate over GPU depreciation cycles, arguing that while NVIDIA's Blackwell offers significant performance gains, physical infrastructure limits and economic viability suggest a 4-5 year lifecycle rather than the feared 2-year cycle. Goldberg shares takeaways from the Open Compute Project (OCP) forum, highlighting the rise of 'neoclouds' as a key growth driver for hardware vendors and the strategic pressure on hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft to maintain market share. The hosts also analyze the supply chain constraints in power equipment, noting severe backlogs for transformers and gas turbines, and touch on TSMC's cautious approach to capital expenditure despite record demand.

  • EMS@C-LEVEL · 27m

    The PCB Supply Chain Squeeze - A C-Level Special with Confidee's Raymond Goh and TLT's Vytautas Ilgunas

    Raymond Goh of Confidee and Vytautas Ilgunas of TLT PCB discuss the severe PCB supply chain squeeze driven by AI server demand and upstream material shortages. They explain how capacity loss in European laminate manufacturing, combined with resin shortages from Middle East conflicts, has created lead times of up to nine months for advanced materials. The guests highlight that availability now trumps price, forcing customers to approve alternate laminates and reserve capacity years in advance to avoid production halts. They argue that rebuilding a complete European electronic manufacturing ecosystem, from sand to assembly, requires long-term policy support rather than short-term urgency.

  • Additive Snack · 50m

    The Future of Energy - Part 1: Gas Turbines and Hydrogen

    Fabian Alefeld hosts an episode of Additive Snack featuring Quan Lac, VP of Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Energy, and Pierre Forêt, Head of AM at Linde. They discuss how additive manufacturing (AM) supports the energy transition, specifically through enhancing gas turbine efficiency and enabling hydrogen combustion at Siemens Energy, and by improving electrolyzer performance to reduce the cost of green hydrogen at Linde. The conversation covers the technical details of gas turbine operation, the challenges of scaling green hydrogen production, and the broader industrial applications of hydrogen in steel and aviation.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 13m

    Chip Shortage Denier

    Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics returns from paternity leave to discuss the severe semiconductor supply chain crisis with host Dave Jones. They analyze how major companies like General Motors and Apple misjudged demand during the pandemic, leading to canceled orders and a subsequent shortage that persists due to long lead times for fab equipment and raw materials. Gammell details his personal struggles with component unavailability, forcing him to redesign circuits, swap microcontrollers, and shrink firmware to fit smaller, available parts, while Jones highlights the legal implications of force majeure notices from distributors like Bryman.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Catalyst. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.