In AI conversations, you often hear about compute. How much of it we have and how fast it’s growing. But compute is not the real constraint; power is. Recently, power has become increasingly unpredictable on both ends, with demand spiking and dropping with little warning, and supply not always being available when it’s needed.
The grid was originally built for centralized generation flowing in one direction, with large power plants sending electricity out to homes and businesses. That model worked when industrial loads were slow and steady. But AI data centers are now asking for multiple gigawatts in places the grid was never designed to deliver. The result is a traffic jam at the last mile, where the load actually lands.
For most hyperscalers and neoclouds, the core constraint has increasingly pushed away from compute and more toward the power stack underneath it. Instead of relying on one source, the shift is now toward blending grid power, batteries, natural gas, and fuel cells.
Co-founded by Haroon Inam, DG Matrix (an MCJ portfolio company) has commercialized the world’s first multi-port solid-state transformer. These transformers use a single software-defined platform that manages multiple power sources in real time.
With NVIDIA launching its new 800V DC architecture with denser compute, higher power loads, and far more efficient grid-to-chip energy delivery, power electronics need to evolve to keep pace.
But can manufacturing keep up with these next-generation AI racks?
Haroon’s product is proof that it can.
“We designed a manufacturing system and a deployment system simultaneously with the product. Today, we can replicate a 5,000 square foot work cell that can produce up to 400 megawatts a year in double shift with just 20 people. It’s a multi-generational opportunity to bring a new architecture with unprecedented scaling for those data centers.”
— Haroon Inam of DG Matrix
That design is built to scale fast. Once a facility and power are secured, DG Matrix could reach 4 gigawatts of annual capacity in approximately three months.
But what about the next decade, what does power look like then?
“The case for the next 10 years calls for behind-the-meter power. And that’s where I think you need multiplicity of power, natural gas, running either turbines or natural gas gensets or fuel cells aided with batteries and grid and other storage technologies. I think that’s the way the data centers are headed.”
— Haroon Inam of DG Matrix
Generating more electricity isn’t the hard part. The real challenge is integrating it back onto the grid through batteries, natural gas, fuel cells, storage, and distributed microgrids. That’s why the AI buildout isn’t about the chips, it’s the grid being rewired to carry them.
Listen to Haroon’s conversation with Cody wherever you get your podcasts.
🎥 The Lean Back
Learn how the world’s first multi-port solid-state transformer is finally giving the grid an answer to AI’s power demand.
🎙️ Inevitable Podcast
Noah Schochet is the Co-founder and CEO of TerraFirma, a construction technology company rethinking how infrastructure gets built. By vertically integrating its tools with field operations, the company aims to make construction dramatically faster, safer, and more affordable while addressing labor shortages and enabling the next generation of infrastructure. Listen to the episode here.
🚀 MCJ Portfolio Highlights
From first criticality to first factories, here’s what MCJ Portfolio companies accomplished recently:
Standard Nuclear made its NYSE debut ($STDN). The company produces advanced nuclear fuel for small modular reactors and microreactors, scaling domestic capacity to bolster U.S. energy security. Listen to CEO Kurt Terrani on the Inevitable podcast here.
Aalo Atomics achieved criticality with the fastest reactor build in 80 years, going from groundbreaking to sustained chain reaction in under 8 months. This achievement surpasses the President’s goal of three criticalities by July 4th. Aalo is now expanding into a 1M sq ft factory to mass-produce its reactors.
Moment Energy opened Megafactory 1, the world’s largest second-life EV battery facility. Moment Energy repurposes retired EV batteries into commercial-scale energy storage, targeting 1 GWh of annual battery storage production by 2030.
Base Power raised a $1B Series D at a $13B valuation, alongside launching Base Core, one of the largest home batteries on the market. The company is also bringing whole-home backup to Austin, TX in partnership with Austin Energy
Verse raised a $54M Series B led by Bessemer, launching Dispatch Intelligence to automate on-site energy storage in real time and expanding Aria from portfolio management into real-time power delivery.
Fourier partnered with Payal Industrial Parks to bring hydrogen-powered energy to India. They’re generating hydrogen on-site to skip the transport and storage logistics of conventional supply and supporting India’s renewable energy ambitions.
👩💻 Climate Jobs
MCJ portfolio companies that are hiring:
Investment Associate at MCJ (Remote)
Demand Gen Lead at Paces (Brooklyn, NY)
Senior Contracts Manager at LevelTen Energy (Seattle, WA or Remote)
Financial Analyst, FP&A Systems & Automation at The Nuclear Company (Washington, DC)
Senior Process Engineer – Hydrometallurgist at Phoenix Tailings (Burlington, MA)
Shipping and Receiving Clerk at AMP (Commerce City, CO)
Customer Experience Associate at WeaveGrid (San Francisco, CA)
Head of Commercial at Kodama (Birmingham, AL)
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Chris Wedding I am of need in funding and scaling, my company though I have no way to bring it toward to you the group. How can I do that?
Andrew