This A.I. Start-Up Aims to Reverse the Backlash Against Data Centers

Silicon Valley Power is nowhere near the size of the California utility giant PG&E.But with roughly 55 data centers plugged into its grid across just 20 square miles, the municipal power company serves one of the most energy-intensive areas in the state.That means it’s getting squeezed by the artificial intelligence build-out.

Although Silicon Valley Power is working on doubling its capacity, the utility can’t keep up with rising demand from its customers, such as Nvidia and Intel, that want more immediately.“All the spare capacity we may have had in the past has all been spoken for,” said Nicolas Procos, the utility director at Silicon Valley Power.“So now you’re talking about building out the system, or coming up with those creative solutions.”As one of those solutions, Silicon Valley Power recently enlisted a two-year-old start-up called Emerald AI.

Using its proprietary software, Emerald helps data centers be more flexible in their power consumption based on input from utilities.Building and running A.I.models require immense amounts of computing power — and energy from the grid to power that workload.

That strain on resources has helped spark a backlash against the data center build-out across the country that threatens to impede the industry’s growth.Emerald is one start-up looking to mitigate that problem.On Tuesday, the company announced a $150 million funding haul that gave it a $1.05 billion valuation.

The venture firms DCVC and Energize Capital are together leading the round.Nvidia, Samsung Ventures, GE Vernova and Salesforce Ventures, among others, are also joining the round.

(Early investors include former Secretary of State John Kerry and Jeff Dean, a Google veteran who recently launched his own start-up.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times accou...