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  • Post last modified:February 16, 2026
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Inside C2i’s plan to raise AI data center power efficiency 10%

What Changed and Why It Matters

AI’s next constraint isn’t silicon. It’s electricity—and how efficiently we move it from the grid to the GPU.

The most valuable marginal watt is the one you don’t waste. As hyperscalers hit power caps, small gains in electrical efficiency translate into big jumps in usable compute.

Power is becoming the limiting reagent for AI. Not just availability—but conversion losses inside the data center itself.

Two signals make this clear. First, Google upped its bond sale to more than $30B to fund AI infrastructure—data centers and power included. Second, policy and ecosystem chatter increasingly calls out electricity as a national competitiveness issue for AI. Meanwhile, attempts to lock in dedicated generation (including nuclear) face regulatory and execution risk.

This is where C2i slots in: designing the “grid-to-GPU” power chain as a single, integrated system to reclaim wasted watts.

The Actual Move

C2i is building an end-to-end power platform for AI data centers—treating conversion, control, and packaging as one problem, not a series of parts. The company is:

  • Pursuing a “grid-to-GPU” architecture that rethinks how power is transformed and delivered from the utility handoff down to the accelerator package.
  • Targeting roughly a 10% reduction in end-to-end electrical losses by integrating power conversion stages, control loops, and physical packaging.
  • Piloting and testing the approach with a fresh $15M raise, signaling early customer interest around capacity unlocks rather than just PUE tweaks.

By integrating conversion, control, and packaging, C2i estimates it can cut total losses by ~10%—turning the same megawatts into more useful GPUs.

Context around the move:

  • Big tech is pouring unprecedented capex into AI plants (Google’s >$30B debt raise is the latest marker).

  • Policymakers are naming electricity availability as a core AI bottleneck.

  • Ambitious on-site generation plans—even nuclear—face regulatory delays, making in-facility efficiency improvements especially attractive.

The Why Behind the Move

C2i’s bet: in a power-capped world, every percent of conversion efficiency compounds into capacity and cash.

• Model

A vertically integrated power electronics platform that spans conversion hardware, control firmware, and packaging close to the load. Expect GaN/SiC-heavy designs, fewer conversion stages, tighter control loops, and co-packaged or near-die regulators.

• Traction

Early pilots and a $15M raise point to customer pull. The pitch resonates: “more GPUs per megawatt” without waiting for utility upgrades.

• Valuation / Funding

Capital-efficient hardware with outsized ROI. A 10% loss reduction at a hyperscale site equates to megawatts reclaimed—often worth tens to hundreds of millions in deferred capex and opex.

• Distribution

Two paths: sell modules/platform through server OEMs (Dell, Supermicro), or land directly with hyperscalers that control end-to-end stacks. The latter is slower but higher leverage.

• Partnerships & Ecosystem Fit

Must align with GPU vendors (NVIDIA, AMD), PSU/PDU providers, and facility power gear (Eaton, Schneider, ABB) to de-risk integration and certification.

• Timing

Perfect. Demand for AI compute is outpacing grid growth. Nuclear and large-scale new generation are slow. Efficiency that ships this year wins.

• Competitive Dynamics

Incumbents (Vicor, Delta, Flex, Huawei Digital Power, Eaton/Schneider) won’t stand still. But few tackle the whole chain end-to-end; that’s C2i’s opening.

• Strategic Risks

  • Reliability and safety across many integrated stages (UL, CE, utility harmonics compliance)

  • Thermal density and EMI at higher switching frequencies

  • Long validation cycles and complex procurement at hyperscalers

  • Standards drift as GPU platforms evolve

Here’s the part most people miss: data center PUE has largely plateaued. The next gains live inside the rack, the PSU, the voltage regulator, and the package. That’s where C2i is aiming.

What Builders Should Notice

  • Sell outcomes, not percentages: translate 10% loss reduction into “X more H100s per site this quarter.”
  • Integrate across boundaries: the moat comes from owning interfaces—electrical, thermal, and control loops—not just a better stage.
  • Bottleneck arbitrage beats feature creep: chase the hard constraint (power) and your value compounds with market growth.
  • De-risk with the right pilots: co-design with one hyperscaler, prove reliability at scale, then generalize.
  • Regulation is a product requirement: certify early, design for harmonics/EMI, and meet utility interconnect realities.

Buildloop reflection

In AI infrastructure, the highest-return innovation isn’t louder—it’s lower loss.

Sources

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