Tech and AI
A German chipmaker has bought a Bengaluru designer of power controllers, and the reason is how fast an AI processor changes its mind
By Staff Writer | 26 August 2026
Infineon announced on 25 August that it has acquired C2i Semiconductors, which designs software defined multiphase controllers and smart power stages for AI data centre use. Terms were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
The German semiconductor maker said it has acquired the Bengaluru company, which specialises in software defined multiphase controllers and smart power stages for artificial intelligence data centre applications. No financial terms were given. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of calendar year 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, so the deal is announced rather than completed.
The acquirer says the acquisition adds expertise in intelligent digital power management, multiphase controllers and system level power architectures, including vertical power delivery and substrate integrated voltage regulators, and that it will create a centre of excellence for digital power technologies in India.
We founded C2i Semiconductors with the vision of bringing greater intelligence to power delivery systems and addressing the growing power challenges of AI infrastructure.
Ram Anant, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, C2i Semiconductors
The problem being bought
On the acquirer's own account, the difficulty is not the total quantity of power a rack draws. It is how quickly the demand changes. An AI processor produces highly dynamic and rapidly changing loads, so the delivery system has to respond faster and more precisely to sudden swings while holding efficiency and stability. Software defined power solutions combine the power semiconductors with digital control and software that adjusts conversion and regulation in real time.
This is the same engineering problem as a surge on any other network, at a different scale and speed. The answer being bought is to put the regulation physically closer to the load and let software manage it, which is what vertical power delivery means.
Adam White, President of the acquirer's Power Systems division, said the transaction will create a centre of excellence for digital power technologies in India and pointed to next generation vertical power delivery architectures as the target.
Why a small deal is worth noticing
Nothing about this transaction is large in cash terms, and no cash figure has been published. What makes it worth a paragraph is where it sits in the chain. The published debate about AI infrastructure is almost entirely about grid connections, generation and cooling, all of which are measured in megawatts and years. This is the last few centimetres of the same problem, measured in nanoseconds, and it is being consolidated quietly while everyone watches the substation.
For anyone specifying or pricing electrical work in a data hall, the direction of travel matters. If regulation keeps moving on to the processor package, the boundary between the electrical installation and the computing equipment moves with it. That boundary is where responsibility for a fault gets argued about, and it has historically sat at a point everyone recognised.
The second reading is about where design work goes
The acquirer describes the deal as expanding its innovation footprint in India and strengthening its global research and development network. That is a familiar sentence, but the substance behind it here is a design team working on a problem at the front of its field rather than a support function.
Whether the centre of excellence turns into anything is a question for the next two years, and the release makes no commitment about headcount, site or investment. Until the transaction closes there is nothing to hold anybody to.