Tesla/SpaceX CEO and one-time clean energy champion Elon Musk apparently is moving toward the on-site fossil-fuel power business through a recent $1 billion acquisition of a natural gas-fired mobile power firm.

Unlike most things Musk, however, he’s moving that direction without any hubbub.

A spare amount of information on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website as well as numerous reports show that Musk is acquiring APR Energy, identified as CF APR Super Holdings LLC in the FTC document.

The company provides mobile gas and diesel-fired power generation which can be utilized by industrial users such as data centers and oil and gas operations. One way that hyperscalers may get around long utility interconnection delays is to develop off-grid projects powering AI factories and cloud-based computing centers.

The deal was completed without a press release from either Musk or APR Energy, and there is not much information on the FTC document. In fact, going to the APR Energy website shows only a “403 forbidden” message, at least as of Wednesday morning.

Musk historically was a supporter of electrification, renewable energy, battery storage and decarbonization while serving as an advisor in the Obama Administration. Several years ago, he pivoted rightward to support Donald Trump in the last presidential election and served in the Trump Administration as part of the cost-cutting mechanism called the Department of Government Efficiency.

The rise and energy demand of artificial intelligence is driving numerous digital infrastructure firms to seek faster means of power capacity supporting computing facilities. Natural gas reserves in the U.S. are at historic levels and readily available through a nationwide network of pipelines.

APR Energy reportedly boasts gas-fired capacity of more than 1 GW through its fleet of mobile power generation turbines. The company says its delivered more than 50 TWh of energy to 75 sites in over 35 counties, according to reports.

Musk was an early figure in AI development and originally collaborated with OpenAI leader Sam Altman. The two have been in conflict over business aims and the future of AI for several years.

His company has created its own AI, xAI Grok. News reports about the APR Energy acquisition theorize that it is going to help Musk and his company deal with the extreme load from AI models.