Data centers are hitting a wall, and it's not about chips or software - it's power. DG Matrix just pulled in $60 million to solve one of AI's most pressing infrastructure problems: how to intelligently route electricity from multiple sources to hungry server racks. The startup's solid-state transformers promise to untangle the grid chaos that's slowing down the AI boom, as hyperscalers scramble to keep their expanding facilities fed with reliable energy.
The AI gold rush has a dirty secret: there's not enough power to go around. DG Matrix is betting $60 million it can fix that problem with technology that sounds almost too simple to work.
The startup just closed a substantial funding round to commercialize solid-state transformers that do something traditional power infrastructure can't - think on their feet. Instead of dumbly shuttling electricity from point A to point B, DG Matrix's systems intelligently juggle power from solar panels, battery storage, the grid, and even on-site generators, sending the cleanest and most reliable electrons to where they're needed most.
It's the kind of unglamorous infrastructure play that suddenly matters a lot when Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are all fighting over the same strained electrical grids to power their AI ambitions. Data center construction has exploded, but the power infrastructure to support it hasn't kept pace. Traditional transformers are analog relics in a digital world, unable to handle the complexity of modern energy portfolios.
"We're essentially building a smart power router for data centers," explains the approach in TechCrunch's exclusive report. The distinction matters because data centers are increasingly piecing together power from wherever they can get it - a solar farm here, a battery backup there, grid power when it's available and affordable.
The timing couldn't be better. AI training runs are consuming exponential amounts of electricity, and the facilities housing them are butting up against local grid capacity limits. Some hyperscalers are now looking at nuclear power and exploring deals with utilities just to secure enough juice for planned expansions. latest GPUs pull so much power that cooling and electricity costs now rival the hardware expenses themselves.
