Adi Kumar

Opinionated view on AI buildout and automation & controls. Shaped by deep domain expertise, backed by rigorously validated evidence, and infused with inputs from other leading voices in the Industry.

Long-form essays on data centre power architecture, industrial technology, commercial due diligence, and capital flows. Written for PE sponsors, hyperscaler strategy teams, industrial acquirers, management consulting firms, and equity research teams by an operator with twenty years at Eaton, Honeywell, Cisco, and BCG.

How I work with clients → Where to start ↓
20 years Eaton · Honeywell · Cisco · BCG

Recently

The framework stack

The frameworks, all published

Three canonical analytical frameworks compose across every essay, case study, and reference asset on the site. Physical infrastructure (AI Power Chain) sits at the bottom of the stack, capital allocation (Investment Layer) sits above it, operational underwriting (Due Diligence) sits alongside as the layer that applies both to live transactions.

Physical · 6 engineering layers
The AI Power Chain
Six engineering layers from grid interconnection to the accelerator die. Vendor concentration, standards state, lead-time exposure per layer.
Capital allocation
The Investment Layer
How the AI buildout gets financed. Where the capital comes from, who deploys it, and what breaks the underwriting when the thesis fails.
Operational underwriting
Due Diligence
The workstreams across four stages, with the companion reference assets (Question Banks, Seller-side workbook, DD Evidence Matrix). Operational underwriting for AI infra deals.

For the canonical index of all three, see /frameworks/. For the full site architecture including series, hubs and reference surfaces, see /knowledge/.

See the frameworks calibrated on live 2024-2026 deals: AirTrunk (UNDERWRITE benchmark), CoreWeave DDTL 3.0 (AMBER worked example), Crusoe / Stargate Abilene (RESTRUCTURE, realized).

Now publishing

Active
Complete framework
Due Diligence for the AI Buildout
The workstreams for capital allocators, corporate developers, and DD practitioners on how to run diligence for AI infrastructure and industrial-tech deals. Plus the companion assets: Question Banks, Seller-side prep, and DD Evidence Matrix.
Monthly · named deals
Deal Tear-Down + Deal Watch
M&A and non-M&A capital events (financings, JVs, backstops, sovereign programmes) through the fourteen-workstream commercial DD framework. Sponsor and strategic angles, deal-thesis stress test.
Monthly · 5th of each month
What Changed
One-page recap of AI infrastructure power. NVIDIA, OCP, hyperscalers, power equipment vendors. What moved, what the market is getting wrong, my prediction for the next six months.

Complete series

The current corpus
Complete series
The AI Power Chain
Physical infrastructure of AI compute, from the medium-voltage utility bus at the site fence down to the 0.8 V transistor gate. Six market essays, six technical companions, three commercial supplements.
essays · complete
The Investment Layer
How the AI infrastructure buildout is financed. Six pools of capital, the M&A map, PE playbooks, coverage asymmetry, downside cases, sovereign capital and industrial policy.
essays · complete
The DC-DC Transition
The essays on the 800 V DC AI power stack, plus six commercial supplements. Grid interconnection, arc behaviour, standards evolution, retrofit vs greenfield, vendor economics.

Reference

Living index · updated monthly
MVDC / LVDC Architecture Map
Canonical comparison of 400 V, 800 V and ±400 V bipolar DC architectures across hyperscalers, vendors, and deployment status. Cited across the DC-DC Transition series.
Reference
Acronym glossary
Every acronym used across the corpus, defined once. Bookmark for quick reference while reading.

Coming through Q1 2027: The Regulatory Layer · Financing the AI Buildout · Tech Spotlights · Case Studies