Tesla Alum Raises $140M to Fix AI Power Bottleneck with Grid Engineering
wandb · x · 2026-08-18
In a W&B podcast, Tesla alum Drew Baglino (Founder of Heron Power) discusses how his company is re-engineering grid infrastructure to fix the AI power bottleneck after raising $140M.
- Cutting Losses: Reduces power distribution losses by half, unlocking up to 35MW of extra compute per gigawatt.
- Shrinking Transformers: Shrinks massive transformers by 100x by shifting galvanic isolation to hundreds of kilohertz.
- Power Semiconductors: Using a single 10kV power semiconductor for tasks GPUs need billions of transistors for.
- Grid Strain: The US grid hasn't been upgraded in 50 years, and AI demand will break it first.
More from Venture
- OpenAI Foundation holds 26% of OpenAI; AI is about to unlock hundreds of billions in philanthropy — iskander · 2026-08-18
- Bank of America Targets Nvidia at $350, Bull Sees $1000 by 2028 — soumitrashukla9 · 2026-08-18
- Stripe Reportedly in Talks to Buy OpenRouter for Over $7B — mattturck · 2026-08-18
- Startup aims to build the ASML of magnetic metallurgy for robotics — ycombinator · 2026-08-18
- AI Chip Startup Etched Signs Quant Giant Jane Street as First Customer — KateClarkTweets · 2026-08-18
- Dempsey's Satirical Essay Tells VCs to Give Up: Only a Handful of Companies Matter — ditzikow · 2026-08-18