Flex sets out grid-to-chip power design, from switchgear to 800 VDC and solid-state transformers

Flex, a manufacturer whose Cloud and Power Infrastructure business makes power, cooling and compute equipment for data centres, set out a grid-to-chip power design at its Innovation Day in Austin, Texas, on 10 November 2026, and filed the slides with the SEC the same day. The slides carry the Axiom name, for Axiom Solutions International, the separate company Flex plans to form from that business. They cite more than 200 GW of new data centre power expected from 2026 to 2030, attributed to S&P Global Market Intelligence and EEI.

The chain Flex starts from

The slides map today's AC path: medium-voltage switchgear, a transformer, low-voltage switchgear, a UPS, PDUs and 480 VAC busway, then a rack power shelf and two converter stages in the server. Multiplying typical published stage efficiencies at full load, Flex estimates that about 92 percent of grid power reaches the rack and about 80 percent reaches the chip. It puts the UPS at 96.0 percent and the transformer at 98.5.

Three steps, each with Flex's own figures

Agile 480, presented as a bridge for racks still on 480 VAC, brings backup and medium-voltage conversion together upstream of the existing low-voltage distribution, cutting the stages to the rack from six to four; Flex estimates about 95 percent then reaches the rack. Agile 800R is a single skid taking 34.5 kV in and delivering 800 VDC with backup included, at 97 percent by Flex's estimate. Flex says converting once to 800 VDC does away with four stages: the transformer, the UPS, the PDUs and the rack power supply.

The third step, a solid-state transformer called Agile 800ST, is listed as a roadmap item. Flex says high-frequency conversion would replace large 60 Hz transformers and reach 98 percent or more to the rack in one stage from medium voltage.

Inside the rack

Here, an 800 VDC power distribution board would replace the power supply, battery backup unit and intermediate bus converter, lifting efficiency between rack input and chip from 85.7 to 90.2 percent on Flex's figures. With the solid-state transformer step added, Flex estimates grid-to-chip efficiency would rise from about 80 to 88 percent. The deck also lists a 33 kW, 50 V rack power shelf at 97.5 percent peak efficiency and a sidecar supplying 800 VDC or plus and minus 400 VDC. Flex says racks heading toward about 600 kW and chips above 1 kW force the shift to 800 VDC.

Storage and factory-built modules

Flex describes its M-Rack, for grid-forming battery storage, as a modular, liquid-cooled silicon carbide inverter, more than 99 percent efficient, in 5 to 7.5 MW blocks. It says its grid-forming controls were developed in-house and comply with IEEE 2800.1, and that the storage provides a voltage and frequency reference that other equipment follows, and takes up rapid swings in AI load within milliseconds.

Flex also lists medium- and low-voltage switchgear, busway, PDUs, remote power panels, e-houses and power skids. It says it builds and tests modules in its factories in parallel with site preparation, and estimates that factory-built systems cut the time to bring capacity online by up to half.