– TDK Ventures invests in Aston Power, a Raleigh-based startup specializing in rapid deployment of clean and reliable energy for large industrial power users
– Aston Power’s private power network is designed to solve the “time-to-power” bottleneck limiting expansion of AI and high-performance computing data centers
– The partnership combines Aston Power’s software-defined utility platform with TDK’s power engineering expertise, components knowledge, and global ecosystem
June 16, 2026
TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) has announced that its corporate venture capital arm, TDK Ventures, Inc., has invested in Aston Power, a Raleigh-based startup specializing in rapid-deployment of clean and reliable energy for large industrial power users. This strategic partnership aims to solve the critical “time-to-power” bottleneck that currently limits the expansion of the global AI economy. By deploying industrial-grade, customer-centric private power grids, Aston Power provides the necessary infrastructure to ensure reliable and sustainable energy delivery for high-demand industrial sectors.
Solving the Infrastructure gap
The rapid ascent of generative AI has rewritten the rules of infrastructure, creating a surge in demand for hyperscale data centers that require hundreds of megawatts to gigawatts of power with zero tolerance for downtime. While traditional grid interconnection timelines now stretch between 5-10 years, Aston Power’s platform is designed to deliver utility-grade power in just 2 to 3 years.
“The AI boom is pushing the current grid paradigm to the brink,” said Nicolas Sauvage, President at TDK Ventures. “We invested in Aston Power because they provide the ‘hard trifecta’ of hyperscaler’s demand: speed to power, grid-like reliability, and acceptable cost—all backed by a formal, enforceable Service Level Agreement (SLA).”
Aston’s Private Power Network Solution
A cornerstone of the investment is Aston’s private power network solution, a scalable and repeatable initiative designed to drive the transition to readily accessible, reliable, and low-carbon energy. Aston offers a modular, self-contained architecture capable of flexibly operating between standalone operations and grid-tied operations.
Key features of the Aston solution include:
– Rapid Deployment: Specifically engineered to meet the evolving needs of hyperscale, AI, and High-Performance Computing (HPC) tenants.
– Performance Guarantees: Unlike traditional utility arrangements, Aston provides a high-performance energy solution with contractually guaranteed service levels.
– Scalable Clean Energy: A development pipeline representing 2 gigawatts of power, with initial campuses in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.
A software-defined approach to energy
Aston Power deploys a hybrid mix of energy assets that are managed and orchestrated in real time. Similar to how telecommunications transitioned from circuit switching to packet switching, Aston makes generating and consuming assets digitally addressable. This allows for real-time optimization of diverse supply sources spanning the grid and on-site resources including solar, batteries, and natural gas to ensure a guaranteed 99.9% availability, at the substation level.
“Our vision is to evolve the way power is managed across vast networks, creating energy infrastructure that is more resilient, affordable, sustainable, and highly scalable,” said Greg Robinson, Co-founder and CEO of Aston Power. “Partnering with TDK Ventures provides us with far more than just expertise in components; it gives us deep insight across the entire power electronics value chain—from advanced sensors and energy storage to passives—and provides access to a global ecosystem that will accelerate our path to mass production.”
Power engineering is a core domain for TDK. By partnering with Aston Power, TDK Ventures intends to provide “TDK Goodness” – leveraging decades of technical depth, B2B, and commercial experience to help Aston navigate complex interfaces between private developers and public utilities.
“Aston Power isn’t just building one-off projects; they are building a venture-scalable network,” added Sauvage. “Their vision for a multi-site, software-defined power platform creates compounding operational learning that will eventually benefit the entire electrification ecosystem.”