The artificial intelligence boom is moving beyond chips. Flex is spending $4.4 billion to buy a company that helps deliver the enormous amounts of electricity next-generation AI data centers need to operate.
Flex has agreed to acquire EPC Power for $4.4 billion, making a major bet that one of the next critical constraints on artificial intelligence will be the infrastructure required to power increasingly dense data centers.
The transaction, announced September 3, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
EPC Power specializes in sophisticated power-conversion systems used by data centers and electric grids.
That may sound technical, but the business problem it addresses is becoming enormous.
AI servers packed with increasingly powerful GPUs consume extraordinary amounts of electricity. As computing racks become more powerful, data centers must move far more energy through their facilities without losing efficiency, overheating equipment or destabilizing the power supply.
Flex is betting that companies capable of solving that problem will become increasingly valuable.
EPC Power is developing systems for the emerging 800-volt data-center architecture, which is designed to move electricity more efficiently into extremely high-density AI computing systems.
Its technology includes rectifiers, DC-to-DC power conversion and grid-forming equipment that can help manage power from the utility grid, backup generation and other energy sources.
The company already has more than 15 gigawatts of equipment deployed across 62 countries.
Flex says EPC Power is expected to generate approximately $800 million in revenue during 2026, with organic revenue growth of roughly 40% projected for 2027.
Its U.S. manufacturing capacity is expected to surpass 30 gigawatts annually in 2027.
That growth explains why Flex is willing to pay billions.
The company already manufactures equipment across the computing, power and cooling infrastructure surrounding data centers. Adding EPC Power allows Flex to control another critical piece of the AI infrastructure stack.
Flex also plans to separate its Cloud and Power Infrastructure business into an independent publicly traded company in the first quarter of 2027.
That would effectively create a standalone company built around one of the fastest-growing areas of the global economy: supplying the physical infrastructure behind artificial intelligence.
What It Means for You
For the past several years, the AI investment story has been dominated by chips.
Now the money is spreading.
Data centers need transformers.
They need substations.
They need cooling systems.
They need backup power.
They need transmission capacity.
And increasingly, they need advanced systems capable of converting and controlling huge amounts of electricity efficiently.
That is why a power-conversion company can suddenly command a $4.4 billion valuation.
The next phase of the AI boom may not be determined solely by who can manufacture the fastest processor.
It may be determined by who can deliver enough electricity to keep those processors running.
Flex is putting $4.4 billion behind that bet.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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