Ideal Power Inc (NASDAQ:IPWR, FRA:5ILA) is seeing growing industry momentum behind next-generation high-voltage DC power architectures, as AI computing pushes data center infrastructure beyond the limits of legacy systems.
Traditional 400-480V AC-based data centers were built for rack power levels of 10 to 50 kilowatts, but AI workloads are driving those requirements toward one megawatt per rack by 2030, accelerating a sector-wide shift to 800V DC architectures that NVIDIA has been actively driving through its GPU platform roadmap.
The company recently signed a letter of intent with an industry partner to co-develop a B-TRAN-enabled prototype for evaluation by a US hyperscaler supporting NVIDIA's new Rubin Ultra 800V DC AI data center power distribution architecture.
In this Q&A with Proactive, CEO David Somo discusses the commercial opportunity, key development milestones, and what a potential 2027 production ramp could mean for the company.
Proactive: You’ve framed high-voltage DC architecture as an early-stage shift. What are the clearest real-world adoption signals you’re seeing today that suggest this transition is accelerating now?
David Somo: The first area is customer visits, where we sit in front of customers and see them accelerating product development around things like solid-state circuit breakers and solid-state transformers. These are designed specifically for the transition from AC power systems to high-voltage DC power systems.
As customers make stronger investments in new product development and new product areas to meet emerging requirements driven by end customers from the data center side, the energy grid, and energy storage systems, it gives us visibility into where the market is heading.
Then there is the broader industry push. NVIDIA, with its Vera Rubin platform, is helping define what rack compute will look like across successive generations. They need to ensure the power and energy required to support those racks is available when they launch their products, and they have a strong market presence and the ability to help move the industry.
They are in the midst of rolling out two successive generations, one this year and one next year, that significantly increase power requirements and are helping drive the migration to high-voltage DC systems, a trend that will continue over the next several years.
How material could the AI data center opportunity become for Ideal Power relative to EVs and energy storage over the next few years?
Data centers can be a substantial opportunity as NVIDIA deploys its Rubin Ultra platform, which has the potential to introduce new elements to the data center.
There will be 800-volt feeder systems, and we can have content that goes into those systems, which are high current. That means more of our product is required.
Then you have sidecars sitting next to the racks for power delivery into the racks. These are medium current systems, and they may also use tens of B-TRAN-type devices for each unit to support circuit breaking. In addition, there are expected to be low current circuit breakers attached to every rack.
This setup is multiplied across data centers, creating a substantial opportunity for data center applications like solid-state circuit breakers, which are a strong fit for B-TRAN.
Can you walk us through the significance of the prototype tied to NVIDIA’s 800-volt DC AI data center architecture, and what key milestones investors should watch?
This is really a prototype development for evaluation by a hyperscaler that is preparing to adopt NVIDIA’s 800-volt DC platform and rack architecture.
It is a solid-state circuit breaker with additional intelligence built into it. Through our industry partner, who has a direct relationship with the hyperscaler, the hyperscaler will be able to evaluate the intelligent breaker product as part of the environment they are developing to support the Nvidia Rubin Ultra platform.
Our expectation is that we will complete the development and have it ready for the customer by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.
With multiple new projects now underway with your lead Asia customer, what is the expected path from these initiatives to potential production orders?
We are working closely with the customer on the development of their system. Later this summer, we will work with them to go through functional testing and their qualification process so we can get the initial prototype systems into customer’s hands later this year for the initial products they are going to develop with B-TRAN.
Delivering these prototype products to customers will determine what the commercial opportunities look like beyond that as they complete their evaluation.
It is a combination of not only continuing to expand our sales opportunities but also leveraging our engineering resources to work closely with customers to complete the development and testing of their systems so they can get them into end customers’ hands, including hyperscalers.
You’ve highlighted a growing funnel of multinational interest. What proportion do you expect to realistically convert into design-ins or commercial agreements over the next 12–18 months?
I expect we will continue to build the company’s opportunity pipeline with both existing customers and new projects. This includes developing new products required for the transition to high-voltage DC environments, as well as adding new customers as they become familiar with our technology. We will also work with partners to deliver prototype systems, develop them further, and bring them to market.
Getting the first prototypes into end customers’ hands for evaluation and field trials could lead to production orders and the beginning of a volume ramp for the company in 2027 and beyond.
There is also a resurgence in EV interest given the current oil supply situation. Across different geographies, there is a rethink about fuel costs and whether consumers want to invest in electric vehicles. That dynamic creates larger opportunities for us, including some of the work we are doing with potential automotive customers such as Stellantis.