SolarEdge Technologies and semiconductor giant Infineon Technologies have announced a collaboration to develop a solid-state transformer (SST) rated at 2–5 megawatts, designed to power high-consumption data centers — particularly those supporting AI compute workloads. The joint solution aims to dramatically improve power-conversion efficiency by enabling a direct link between the grid’s medium-voltage AC supply and a data center’s internal DC network. For SolarEdge, this represents its first significant move into the data-center infrastructure space.

At the technological level, the joint project fundamentally redefines how modern data centers are powered. Today, electricity typically enters at medium voltage (13–35 kV AC) and passes through a long chain of conversions: first to 400 V AC, then to 230 V AC, and finally to 12–5 V DC for the servers. Each step causes 5–10% energy loss. The new solid-state transformer shortens that chain by converting directly from medium-voltage AC to high-voltage DC (800–1500 V) with efficiency exceeding 99%, allowing data-center DC systems to be powered directly — with fewer conversions, less heat, and smaller equipment.

The SST’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it is “solid-state” — with no moving or magnetic components. Instead of traditional copper windings and iron cores, it relies on high-speed electronic switching built on Infineon’s silicon-carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, combined with SolarEdge’s digital power-control architecture. This enables very high switching frequencies, precise real-time control, and compact, lightweight packaging. The architecture also allows seamless integration of multiple power sources — grid, battery storage, or solar — managed intelligently according to load.

For data-center operators, this represents a major step toward a DC microgrid model, where energy distribution is managed dynamically, much like computing resources. In such an architecture, power management becomes part of the IT layer itself: algorithms regulate current flow, balance loads in real time, and enhance the facility’s overall energy and operational efficiency.

For SolarEdge, entry into the data-center segment presents both vast opportunity and a significant test. In recent years the company has repeatedly sought to diversify beyond its solar-inverter core — into lithium-ion storage systems, EV chargers, and UPS solutions — but most of those ventures ended in disappointment. Products struggled to reach profitability, adoption was slower than expected, and some projects were eventually written off or shuttered.

Against that backdrop, the partnership with Infineon is both a strategic opportunity and a maturity test: can SolarEdge leverage its deep expertise in power electronics to establish a foothold in a new, high-growth market — or will another attempt to move beyond the sun end in another burn?