The Investment Layer
The AI infrastructure M&A map
Every material deal 2023-2026 across the six layers of AI infrastructure, four through-lines that describe them, and fifteen forward candidates by name. Part II of The Investment Layer.
Author
Executive with 20+ years in industrials, automation and control, and AI infrastructure. Prior operating roles at Eaton, Honeywell, Cisco, and BCG. Writes independent analysis of the physical and commercial infrastructure behind AI. Advises PE sponsors, hyperscaler strategy teams, industrial acquirers, management consulting firms, and equity research on both commercial and technical diligence.
Areas of expertise
- Industrial technology and automation and control systems
- Commercial due diligence for industrials and AI infrastructure M&A
- Technical due diligence across power, thermal, and DC assets
- AI data centre power architecture (800V DC transition, six-layer power stack)
- Wide-bandgap semiconductors (SiC, GaN) for AI power
- Data centre thermal and cooling infrastructure (DLC, immersion)
- AI infrastructure financing (DDTL, sovereign wealth, sale-leaseback)
- Grid interconnection and hyperscaler nuclear PPAs
- Regulatory frameworks (FERC, EPA, CFIUS, EU AI Act)
Flagship research
- The DC-DC Transition. 19-piece field guide to the 800V DC AI power stack.
- The Regulatory Layer. Ten essays on AI infrastructure regulation.
- Case Studies. Eight landmark AI infrastructure deal retrospectives.
- Tech Spotlights. Fifteen vendor and technology deep-dives.
- Financing the AI Buildout. Ten capital-structure essays.
- MVDC / LVDC Architecture Map. Living index of vendor coverage across DC voltage classes.
All essays by
The Investment Layer
How the AI buildout is financed
Six pools of capital finance the AI infrastructure buildout: hyperscaler cash flow, REITs, OEM balance sheets, structured debt, sovereign, and PE. Part I of The Investment Layer.
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23 min read
AI Power Chain
The Services Inversion
An installed base generates maintenance work whether or not the manufacturer does it. Two conditions decide who captures the annuity: the customer's capability gap, and defensibility against independents. Seven positions across the AI infrastructure chain.
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34 min read
AI Power Chain
Pricing Under Scarcity
Shortage is not the same as pricing power. Ten commercial positions across the AI infrastructure chain, sorted by the two conditions that determine whether scarcity converts to margin: how expensive escape is for the buyer, and whether qualified rivals decline to undercut.
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43 min read
AI Power Chain
The AI Power Chain: Vendor Screen
337 vendors across 6 stacks. Capacitors, wide-bandgap, thermal, interconnect, on-package delivery, modular DC. With a weighted diligence rank you can re-weight live. Filter by geography, size, public/private. Download as CSV. Free for subscribers.
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79 min read
The Modular Datacenter Stack Technical Companion
Skid architectures, BESS integration, MV switchgear, busway and rack topologies for the modular hyperscale datacenter build.
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19 min read
The Modular Datacenter Stack: How the Building Gets Built (When There Aren't Enough Electricians)
How the AI datacenter building gets built: modular skids, BESS, UPS, busway, rack enclosures. Where PE has deployed and where returns compress.
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34 min read
The On-Package Delivery Stack: Technical Companion
IVR magnetics, thin-film substrates, high-density capacitors and the qualification-gated architecture of on-package power delivery.
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20 min read
The On-Package Delivery Stack: How 48V Becomes 0.8V at 2,250 Amperes
How 48V becomes 0.8V at the chip die: multi-phase POL, IVR, on-package power delivery, and why the foundries hold the strategic value pool.
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40 min read
The Interconnect Stack: Technical Companion
Where the market essay named the vendors and quantified the lead times, this piece explains the physics. Why voltage steps up, how a 400-tonne transformer moves 300 MW at 99% efficiency, why SF6 became standard and why it is being phased out.
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34 min read
The Interconnect Stack: Transformers, Switchgear and the Grid Equipment That Gates the AI Buildout
Grid interconnect is the binding constraint on AI. Transformer lead times doubled since 2023. Hyperscalers now build own generation to escape 4-7 year utility queues.
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46 min read
The Capacitor Stack: Technical Companion
Where the market essay named the vendors, this piece explains the physics. What a farad actually is, why HSCs beat batteries on 10-second pulses, why MLCCs derate under DC bias, and why a fifty-cent film cap decides whether an 800VDC rack survives its own noise.
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35 min read