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Hitachi to Invest $1 Billion to Produce Power Grid Components in US by Laila Kearney

William Attardi on September 5, 2025

Hitachi plans to invest $1 billion to expand its U.S. power grid infrastructure manufacturing, its energy unit said on Thursday, as the country faces record electricity demand from Big Tech’s build-out of AI data centers. The U.S. holds the biggest concentration in the world of data centers, which are expected to triple their energy use to consume about 12% of the domestic power supply in less than three years. As a result, many utilities are ramping up spending on the long-stagnating electrical grid. Nearly half of Hitachi Energy’s latest investment, or $457 million, will go towards building a new facility in South Boston, Virginia, to manufacture large power transformers. The facility will be the biggest U.S. producer of the massive transformers, which can run as large as a two-story home, Hitachi said.  Hitachi to invest $1 billion to produce power grid components in US | Reuters

Hitachi Energy Commits $250M to Address Transformer Shortage

William Attardi on March 10, 2025

Electricity demand associated with artificial intelligence and data center development mean “the need for transformers has surged beyond initial projections,” Hitachi Energy said. Hitachi Energy on Monday announced a $250 million investment to expand global production of critical components for electrical transformers, including “enhancing production capacity at the company’s transformer factories in Virginia, Missouri, and Mississippi.” Power management company Eaton announced in February that it will invest $340 million to increase U.S. production of its three-phase transformers. Production and hiring is expected to begin in 2027 at the company’s production facility in Jonesville, South Carolina. Hitachi Energy commits $250M to address transformer shortage | Utility Dive

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind – The last time human beings headed moonward was on the Apollo 17 flight that launched Dec. 7, 1972—before any of the Artemis II crew members were born. Today’s crew will not land on the moon—they won’t even orbit the moon. But they will whip around the lunar far side, on a shakedown mission test-flying the Orion spacecraft. This is essential preparatory work for achieving NASA’s bigger lunar goals. Next year there will be another test flight in low Earth orbit during the flight of Artemis III, followed by up to two moon landings by Artemis IV and V in 2028, and annual landings thereafter. Unlike the Apollo program, Artemis aims not just for the so-called flags-and-footprints model of short, one- to three-day stays on the moon, but for a long-term presence at a long-term moon base in the south lunar pole, where deposits of ice can provide drinkable water, breathable oxygen, and oxygen-hydrogen rocket fuel. Very much like the Apollo program, Artemis finds itself in a closely watched moon race, not with the old Soviet Union this time, but with China, which has announced its intention to have astronauts on the moon by 2030. The U.S. is not going it alone this time, however. While Apollo was an entirely American enterprise, Artemis flies under the flag of 60 countries, signatories to the Artemis Accords, an international pact whose members vow to support the peaceful exploration of space and contribute money, modules, and astronauts to the Artemis cause. Artemis II Has Launched. Here’s Everything You Need to Know