This energy startup’s bet on 100-year-old grid tech is paying off

Demand for electrical transformers, fueled in part by AI data centers, has grown so high that one prominent investor is backing a new startup that uses a very old technology. Ayr Energy makes transformers with iron-cores, the same basic tech used in the grid for over a century. A number of other startups have popped up to dethrone the iron-core transformer, but Ayr and its investors think there’s plenty of life left in the old tech. Judging by the company’s order book, now north of $500 million, they might be right.