All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Blake Scholl: Why Plane Speed Stalled, Supersonic Commercial Flight, & Revolutionizing the Engine
This debrief was written and voiced by AI from the episode's audio.
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Key Moments
Blake frames the paradox: we flew the sound barrier in 1969 but can't today. Concorde's political legacy created a ban that stalled all supersonic innovation for decades.
Blake reveals the scope of Boom's achievement: what legacy companies said required thousands of engineers, Boom shipped with 50 dedicated people, including the first Starlink installation at supersonic speeds.
Blake explains the technical breakthrough: XB1 uses atmospheric refraction to redirect sonic boom upward so it never reaches the ground. Within days, Congress passes the Supersonic Legalization Act unanimously.
Blake gives specifics: break-even fare for New York to Europe is thirty-five hundred dollars round-trip. Flight time drops from six hours to three and a half. Target launch around 2030, 'give or take.'
Blake reveals the turning point: outsourcing to Rolls-Royce nearly killed Boom. Pivoting to in-house engine manufacturing using digital design and manufacturing tools created competitive advantage and unlocked the data center business.
Blake demonstrates the financial pivot: take a Mach 1.7 engine core, remove the front fan, add a rear generator, and you get forty-two megawatts of behind-the-meter power with zero water cooling. Tens of gigawatts already pre-ordered.
Blake reveals the pre-demand signal: tens of gigawatts of orders already exist. First engine test happens next month, then units auction. Positioning Boom's power business as an immediate revenue driver.
Blake describes the speed of regulatory approval: broke sound barrier Monday, tweeted it, Elon reposted, flew to DC Tuesday night, West Wing invite by morning, model in Oval Office by Thursday, executive order signed 115 days later. Surprising turn of government speed.
Blake shares his vision for long-term success. His daughter expects rockets to come back because she's only seen landing videos. Victory is when kids ask why cross-country flights ever took six hours, because supersonic becomes normal.
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Summary
Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, joins the All-In hosts to discuss the resurgence of commercial supersonic flight and an unexpected pivot into power generation for data centers. After 12 years building toward Mach 1.7 passenger flights across the Atlantic in 3.5 hours, Boom broke the sound barrier in 2025 with XB1—the first privately developed supersonic jet—using a revolutionary "boomless cruise" technique that redirects sonic booms upward via atmospheric refraction. This breakthrough led to the lifting of the 1973 supersonic ban via executive order and unanimous passage of the Supersonic Legalization Act through Congress. Rather than outsourcing engine development to legacy manufacturers, Boom is building its own jet engines from scratch using advanced digital design and manufacturing. Unexpectedly, these engines have become a financial game-changer: by removing the front fan and adding a rear generator, the same high-temperature engine core powers data centers at 42 megawatts with zero water cooling. Scholl describes tens of gigawatts of pre-demand in his inbox, positioning the data center business as a near-term revenue driver that funds the longer development cycle for commercial supersonic passenger flights, targeted for around 2030. The company plans to manufacture at scale from raw materials through final assembly in a vertically integrated factory now producing parts.
Key Takeaways
Boom solved the sonic boom problem with 'boomless cruise'—the sound redirects upward via atmosphere, eliminating the regulatory blocker that killed Concorde. The Supersonic Legalization Act passed Congress unanimously.
highCommercial transatlantic flights at Mach 1.7 (3.5 hours) are targeted for ~2030 at a break-even fare of $3,500 round-trip. Over water, full supersonic speed; over land, 50% faster than today's jets to avoid ground boom.
highBoom's pivot to data center power generation using its jet engine core is a high-margin, near-term revenue driver. Tens of gigawatts of demand already exist, with the first engine entering a test stand next month and units to be auctioned.
highBy building engines in-house rather than outsourcing, Boom sidestepped the trap that killed earlier plans—and turned manufacturing prowess into a competitive moat and alternative revenue stream.
highThe company is reindustrializing advanced manufacturing in America, designing and producing turbine blades, vanes, and cores in a vertically integrated factory now scaling to multiple gigawatts per year.
mediumSuccess is not guaranteed, but Scholl frames the vision expansively: winning means supersonic flight becomes so routine that kids forget six-hour cross-country trips ever existed.
mediumNotable Quotes
“In 1969, we landed on the moon, and we flew an airliner through the sound barrier. Yet, more than half a century later, we can't go to the moon, and we can't fly faster than the speed of sound.”
— Blake Scholl
Frames the paradox of technological regression—highlights why supersonic flight matters and why Boom exists.
“The moment you become an expert, what you're steeped in is the past, and then you're completely useless. Courage is not being fearless. Courage is acting despite the fear.”
— Blake Scholl
Philosophical foundation for why a software engineer could succeed where aircraft engineers said it was impossible.
“One of the dumbest things I ever did was try to outsource our engine development to a big old company. We decided to do the thing everyone said was really impossible: make our own engine from scratch.”
— Blake Scholl
Turning point: the decision to build in-house, which unexpectedly unlocked the data center business and financial viability.
“My daughter was 18 months old, and we'd watch rocket videos. When she was 2.5, I took her to watch a model STS rocket... she expected the rocket to come back to the pad because I had done nothing but watch rocket landing videos her entire life. We will have won when kids don't remember a time when flights took six hours.”
— Blake Scholl
Personal story illustrating the long-term vision: normalizing supersonic flight across all passenger classes over generations.
Predictions
Supersonic commercial flights will launch around 2030, give or take.
— Blake Scholl · Confidence: medium · ~4 years from 2026
First jet engine core will be tested next month (around October 2026) and capacity will scale to multiple gigawatts per year.
— Blake Scholl · Confidence: high · Imminent (next 12 months)
Boom will add 10+ gigawatts to the grid within five years via data center power generation.
— Blake Scholl · Confidence: medium · 5 years
Private aviation (Gulfstream, Falcon competitors) will also pursue supersonic jets, or Boom will build them if others don't.
— Blake Scholl · Confidence: low · Beyond 2030
Action Items
If you operate or invest in data centers, monitor Boom's power generation business. Tens of gigawatts of demand exist and units will be auctioned after first engine test.
High-margin, near-term alternative to grid power; eliminates water cooling bottleneck that constrains AI scaling.
Track the Supersonic Legalization Act through Senate to understand regulatory timeline for trans-Atlantic and potentially domestic supersonic routes.
Unanimous House passage and Senate Commerce approval suggest momentum. Permanent legislation replaces executive order that could theoretically be reversed.
Consider whether supersonic cross-Atlantic flights (3.5 hours, $3,500 round-trip) align with your business or personal travel economics by 2030.
First-mover advantage for early adopters; pricing is break-even for airlines, suggesting upside for premium passengers.