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Our electricity system runs on magnets. Every transformer stepping voltage up or down, every inductor smoothing out electrical current, and every motor turning electricity into motion relies on the same basic physics: magnetic fields that control the flow of electrons, converting, filtering, and transporting power at every stage. But as AI and electrification push the grid to its limits, better magnetic materials can help power electronics — and our grid itself — keep up.
That’s the bet behind CorePower Magnetics, a Pittsburgh-based startup which raised a $10.5 million funding round co-led by Engine Ventures and Material Impact, announced on Thursday. The startup is developing more efficient, power-dense components such as inductors and transformers using proprietary nanocrystalline magnetic materials, whose ultra-fine grains reduce energy loss. While these materials have historically been brittle and limited to operating at temperatures below 150 degrees Celsius, CorePower says it engineered alloys that can perform above 200 degrees while maintaining durability.
That higher temperature ceiling is critical. As surging electricity demand meets our increasingly complex grid, power electronics like inductors and transformers are being pushed to handle more power, greater voltages, and higher frequencies than ever before. Magnetic material that can run hotter allows engineers to push more power through smaller components. In the context of a data center, for example, that could equate to about a 10% overall reduction in power demand, CorePower’s CEO Sam Kernion told me
“Data centers are the tip of the spear for this really big push into power electronics,” Kernion explained. “If you look more broadly, electricity demand is growing, but the grid itself is becoming a lot more complex, and data centers are just a great example of that.”
Traditionally, electricity flowed unidirectionally from large, centralized power plants to homes, businesses, and other end users. But now the system must support a wider array of both generation and demand sources. Distributed energy resources like rooftop solar panels can generate power directly where it’s consumed, while batteries (and soon electric vehicles) can both draw power and send it back to the grid. Today’s standard electrical equipment isn’t built to handle the bidirectional power flow and real-time current and voltage conversions that this new ecosystem demands.
Solid-state transformer startups such as Heron Power and DG Matrix are tackling this same challenge, using advanced semiconductor technology to convert voltage electronically while also handling functions like bidirectional power flow and alternating-to-direct current conversion. But even these newer systems still generally rely on conventional magnetic materials, which CorePower says have become a key bottleneck.
“We’re taking a car engine, and now we’re going to a jet engine in terms of how different this is,” Kernion told me regarding the demands of this new, higher performance operating environment.
CorePower is designing its advanced, medium-frequency transformers to operate across a broad range of frequencies, from 10 kilohertz to 100 kilohertz. Eventually it plans to sell these transformers to power electronics manufacturers, which will build complete, solid-state systems around the startup’s magnetic core, adding components such as semiconductors and capacitors along with their own software and control systems.
While CorePower hasn’t disclosed any customers to date, it did launch its first product last year, a standardized, low-voltage inductor that’s smaller, lighter, and more efficient than the industry standard. The device smooths out current in power conversion systems, including data center distribution equipment, EV chargers, and inverters that convert DC electricity to AC. Next, CorePower is preparing to launch its standardized transformer product.
The company’s magnet tech could ultimately find numerous applications beyond inductors and transformers. “We’re also able to supply onboard magnetic components for EVs, or uninterruptible power supplies at data centers, or inverters for renewables,” Kernion explained. “Every electron everywhere passes through a magnetic component at some point, so there’s a whole bunch of opportunity out there.”
It’s certainly a fortuitous time to be a domestic power electronics manufacturer. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order banning the import of certain foreign-made bulk power equipment, including substation transformers and grid-connected inverters. While CorePower is mainly focused on producing high-performance equipment that Kernion says can’t currently be sourced domestically or abroad, the push to shore up domestic manufacturing is providing a tailwind for another of its new business lines: amorphous ribbon, a traditional alternative to the electric steel used in conventional distribution transformers on the grid.
With this latest funding, CorePower plans to expand its team and increase manufacturing capacity at its 10,000 square foot pilot manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh, which it was able to complete thanks to a $5 million ARPA-E grant. The company is eventually looking to move into a larger, 100,000 square foot facility in the region to scale its material and component manufacturing further, though there’s no confirmed timeline for this yet.
