Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Cleanhill Partners have agreed to sell EPC Power Corp, a California-headquartered manufacturer of software-defined inverters, power conversion systems (PCS), microgrid and data centre power solutions, to global manufacturing group Flex. The definitive agreement, announced on 3 September, values the transaction at US$4.4 billion and is expected to close in Q4 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. The deal matters because it marks a significant exit for the sellers, who acquired EPC Power in 2022, and because it places a specialist power electronics firm at the centre of Flex's strategy for data centre and AI-driven power infrastructure.
The mechanics of the transaction are straightforward but strategically layered. Flex, headquartered in Singapore with its US HQ in Texas, will fund the acquisition through a combination of debt and equity, with the company evaluating various financing alternatives. EPC Power will become part of Flex's Cloud and Power Infrastructure (CPI) business segment, which Flex intends to spin out as a separate publicly traded company in Q1 2027. Flex highlighted EPC Power's hardware, software, and controls platform for next-generation 800V data centre power architectures, including rectifiers, DC-DC converters, and planned solid-state transformers. According to Flex, EPC Power is expected to generate around US$800 million in revenues in 2026, growing by approximately 40% in 2027, with an expected EBITDA margin of roughly 30% next year.
The evidence base for this analysis is a single full-text article from Energy Storage News, a secondary trade publication. The source provides the transaction value, expected closing timeline, revenue and margin projections, and the strategic rationale from both buyer and seller. It also offers useful historical context: EPC Power was acquired by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Cleanhill Partners in 2022, a period when other power electronics firms serving renewable energy and energy storage were changing hands. For example, Dynapower was acquired in the summer of 2022 by Sensata for US$580 million. The article quotes Cleanhill Partners managing partners Ash Upadhyaya and Rakesh Wilson, who said they first invested in EPC Power in 2021 because they believed power conversion would become a critical enabling technology as renewable generation, grid modernisation, and digital infrastructure converged, adding that this conviction came well before the extraordinary growth in power demand driven by AI.
The sector implications are substantial. EPC Power's 'Made in America' status is likely to be seen as a competitive advantage by Flex, particularly given the company's recent opening of a third US manufacturing facility in South Carolina, adding 27GW of annual nameplate production capacity that can be ramped to 40GW. The article also notes that data centres have rapidly emerged as a demand driver for power electronics in the industrial sector, alongside continued growth in solar PV inverters and battery energy storage system PCS. EPC Power's technology is designed to give data centre developers speed-to-power and to address the volatility of AI computing loads, which can cause megawatt swings in power demand in a fraction of a second. This positions the acquisition as a direct response to AI-driven power demand, a theme reinforced by the concurrent announcement from Heron Power, a startup led by former Tesla executive Drew Baglino, which has selected a California site for a 40GW annual production capacity facility targeting large-scale energy and data centre projects.
Several limitations and unknowns remain. The dossier contains no information on the purchase price paid by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Cleanhill Partners in 2022, making it impossible to calculate the sellers' return on investment. The article does not provide details on EPC Power's current ownership structure, debt levels, or any regulatory approvals required beyond customary closing conditions. The financing mix for Flex's acquisition is described only as a combination of debt and equity, with no specifics on amounts or terms. Additionally, the source is a single trade publication, and the revenue and margin projections are attributed to Flex rather than independently verified. What to watch includes the Q4 2026 closing, the Q1 2027 spin-out of Flex's CPI segment, and whether EPC Power's 2026 revenue and 2027 growth projections materialise as stated.