As AI data centers hit power limits, Peak XV backs Indian startup C2i to fix the bottleneck

Power, alternatively than compute, is accelerated becoming the limiting origin successful scaling AI information centers. That displacement has prompted Peak XV Partners to backmost C2i Semiconductors, an Indian startup gathering plug-and-play, system-level powerfulness solutions designed to chopped vigor losses and amended the economics of large-scale AI infrastructure.

C2i (which stands for power conversion and intelligence) has raised $15 cardinal successful a Series A circular led by Peak XV Partners, with information from Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures, bringing the two-year-old startup’s full backing to $19 million.

The concern comes arsenic data-center vigor request accelerates worldwide. Electricity depletion from information centers is projected to astir triple by 2035, per a December 2025 study from BloombergNEF, portion Goldman Sachs Research estimates data-center powerfulness request could surge 175% by 2030 from 2023 levels — the equivalent of adding different top-10 power-consuming country.

Much of that strain comes not from generating energy but from converting it efficiently wrong information centers, wherever high-voltage powerfulness indispensable beryllium stepped down thousands of times earlier it reaches GPUs. This process presently wastes astir 15% to 20% of energy, C2i’s co-founder and CTO Preetam Tadeparthy said successful an interview.

“What utilized to beryllium 400 volts has already moved to 800 volts, and volition apt spell higher,” Tadeparthy told TechCrunch.

Founded successful 2024 by erstwhile Texas Instruments powerfulness executives Ram Anant, Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy, and Dattatreya Suryanarayana, on with Harsha S. B and Muthusubramanian N. V, C2i is redesigning powerfulness transportation arsenic a single, plug-and-play “grid-to-GPU” strategy spanning the data-center autobus to the processor itself.

C2i co-founders Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy, Ram Anant, and Dattatreya Suryanarayana (Left to right)Image Credits:C2i

By treating powerfulness conversion, power and packaging arsenic an integrated platform, C2i estimates it tin chopped end-to-end losses by astir 10% — astir 100 kilowatts saved for each megawatt consumed — with knock-on effects for cooling costs, GPU utilisation and wide data-center economics.

“All that translates straight to full outgo of ownership, revenue, and profitability,” Tadeparthy said.

For Peak XV Partners (which split from Sequoia Capital successful 2023), the attraction lies successful however powerfulness costs signifier the economics of AI infrastructure astatine scale. Rajan Anandan, the task firm’s managing director, told TechCrunch that aft the upfront superior concern successful servers and facilities, vigor costs go the ascendant ongoing disbursal for information centers, making adjacent incremental ratio gains highly valuable.

“If you tin trim vigor costs by, telephone it, 10 to 30%, that’s similar a immense number,” Anandan said. “You’re talking astir tens of billions of dollars.”

The claims volition beryllium tested quickly. C2i expects its archetypal 2 silicon designs to instrumentality from fabrication betwixt April and June, aft which the startup plans to validate show with data-center operators and hyperscalers that person asked to reappraisal the data, according to Tadeparthy.

The Bengaluru-based startup has built a squad of astir 65 engineers and is mounting up customer-facing operations successful the U.S. and Taiwan arsenic it prepares for aboriginal deployments.

Power transportation is 1 of the astir entrenched parts of the data-center stack, agelong dominated by ample incumbents with heavy equilibrium sheets and years-long qualification cycles. While galore newer companies absorption connected improving idiosyncratic components, redesigning powerfulness transportation end-to-end requires coordinating silicon, packaging, and strategy architecture simultaneously — a capital-intensive attack that fewer startups effort and 1 that tin instrumentality years to beryllium successful accumulation environments.

Anandan said the existent question present is execution, noting that each startups look technology, market, and squad risks erstwhile betting connected however industries evolve. In C2i’s case, helium said, the feedback loop should beryllium comparatively short. “We’ll cognize successful the adjacent six months,” said Anandan, pointing to upcoming silicon and aboriginal lawsuit validation arsenic the infinitesimal erstwhile the thesis volition beryllium tested.

The stake besides reflects however India’s semiconductor plan ecosystem has matured successful caller years.

“The mode you should look astatine semiconductors successful India is, this is similar 2008 e-commerce,” said Anandan. “It’s conscionable getting started.”

He pointed to the extent of engineering endowment — with a increasing stock of planetary spot designers based successful the state — alongside government-backed design-linked incentives that person lowered the outgo and hazard of tape-outs, making it progressively viable for startups to physique globally competitory semiconductor products from India alternatively than run lone arsenic captive plan centers.

Whether those conditions construe into a globally competitory merchandise volition go clearer implicit the coming months, arsenic C2i begins validating its system-level powerfulness solutions with customers.