CorePower Magnetics Secures $10.6M to Address a Critical Bottleneck in AI, Grid, and Electrification Infrastructure

Co-led by Engine Ventures and Material Impact, the oversubscribed round will scale domestic manufacturing of advanced magnetic components

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CorePower Magnetics, a developer and manufacturer of advanced magnetic components for power electronics, today announced it has raised $10.6 million in an equity financing co-led by Engine Ventures and Material Impact. Evergreen Climate Innovations, the Carnegie Mellon Catalyst Fund, and Baruch Future Ventures also participated in the round, which brings the company’s total equity funding to $13.6 million. The company has raised an additional $27 million in non-dilutive funding through ARPA-E, Department of Energy and Department of Defense programs. CorePower will use the capital to expand manufacturing capacity, accelerate hiring, and scale commercialization of its advanced magnetic materials and components as it transitions from technology development to scaled domestic manufacturing.

Needs for more efficient power electronics are surging across AI infrastructure and data centers, grid modernization, industrial electrification, and the broader energy transition. The International Energy Agency projects AI-driven data center electricity demand will more than double by 2030, and the U.S. Department of Energy estimates roughly 100 GW of additional peak-hour supply may be needed by then. As power levels rise, system designers face pressure to improve efficiency, shrink size and weight, and lower system costs. Magnetic materials and components, through which every electron on the grid passes, remain one of the least modernized parts of the power stack despite being a critical bottleneck for the flow of electricity. Higher-voltage, higher-frequency architectures now entering the market have shifted the operating regime for power conversion, driving demand for transformers and inductors that can run hotter, with higher efficiency, and at higher voltages than conventional components allow.

CorePower develops and manufactures the advanced magnetic components that make these systems possible. The company’s foundational technology is a class of nanocrystalline alloys and a streamlined manufacturing process, first advanced by Paul Ohodnicki (co-founder, CTO) and Sam Kernion (CEO) at Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, which CorePower reformulated to operate at higher temperatures and to withstand the mechanical requirements of commercial manufacturing. Unlike most companies in the magnetics industry, CorePower works across the entire value chain, from materials development and manufacturing processes through component design and production, delivering smaller, lighter, and more efficient inductors and transformers that customers can integrate directly into their systems.

"The increased need for more efficient power electronics is creating a significant opportunity for advanced magnetic materials and components," said Sam Kernion, CEO of CorePower. “Along with improved performance, we're bringing greater standardization to a historically custom industry, enabling customers to move faster from design to production while accelerating adoption of next-generation power electronics."

Building Domestic Capacity in Pittsburgh
CorePower is growing its U.S. production footprint in the Pittsburgh region, building on the area’s deep history of steelmaking, materials innovation, and advanced manufacturing. The financing will support CorePower’s planned manufacturing expansion in the Pittsburgh region, including investments in production capacity, equipment, and the team required to bring advanced magnetic components into volume production. CorePower was previously awarded grants from ARPA-E, and SBIR and STTR awards from the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Defense.

Recent company momentum includes:

• Commercial traction: CorePower is working with leading companies, including multiple Fortune 500 companies under paid engagements, across AI infrastructure, data centers, industrial power systems, and grid modernization.
• Manufacturing scale-up: The company has advanced its proprietary alloy, annealing, and component manufacturing processes from laboratory scale through intermediate scale to commercial scale production, and is moving multiple product lines toward volume production.
• Board additions: Reed Sturtevant of Engine Ventures and Carmichael Roberts of Material Impact have joined the CorePower board.
• Team growth: CorePower is expanding hiring across engineering, operations, and manufacturing to support customer programs moving into production.

“CorePower sits at a critical and under-appreciated layer in the power stack," said Reed Sturtevant, General Partner at Engine Ventures. "We believe their unique magnetics materials technology can be the foundation of a large, successful company during the growth of data centers and the grid.”

"Advanced materials create value only when they can be translated into products that solve meaningful customer problems," said Carmichael Roberts, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Material Impact. "What impressed us about CorePower is not only the strength of the underlying technology, but the team’s ability to scale it into manufacturable components that address critical needs across power infrastructure, electrification, and AI-driven growth."

CorePower was founded in 2020 and is headquartered at the Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh. For more information, including customer inquiries and open roles, visit www.corepowermagnetics.com.

About CorePower Magnetics
CorePower Magnetics develops and manufactures advanced magnetic components that enable the next generation of power electronics. By taking a holistic approach from magnetic materials to component design and manufacturing expertise, CorePower delivers smaller, lighter, and more efficient inductors and transformers for applications including AI infrastructure, data centers, grid modernization, and industrial electrification. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, the company is backed by Engine Ventures, Material Impact, Evergreen Climate Innovations, the Carnegie Mellon Catalyst Fund, and Volta Energy Technologies, and has support from ARPA-E and the U.S. Department of Energy. For more information, visit www.corepowermagnetics.com or follow the company on LinkedIn.