“Grid to Rack”: ABB Wants Out of the Component Box

16 Oct 2026 · Stories from Data Centre World Asia

ABB’s Global Commercial Strategy Manager Travis Deutmeyer on exponential power density, the everything-backlog, and trading speed for efficiency.

“Everything has changed in the past two years,” says Travis Deutmeyer, Global Commercial Strategy Manager for ABB Electrification’s data-centre segment. As halls transition to AI load, “the power density needed to drive these AI chips is growing exponentially.”

That has forced the electrical makers to build new products for it. ABB used Data Centre World Asia 2026 to launch its DC portfolio, Infinities, aimed squarely at powering high-density AI computing.

The Backlog is Everything

The supply-chain answer is blunt. What are customers waiting longest for? “Almost everything, honestly.” Transformers take a long time, so does medium-voltage switchgear, “almost everything in our portfolio, and again, it’s not just us, it’s our competitors too,” as exponential demand lengthens backlogs across the board.

Speed is the Wrong Metric

His real-vs-hype point pushes against the industry’s favourite number. “Today there is a lot of focus on speed. Speed of developing and building a data centre,” he says. “I would love to see more of a focus on efficiency,” because tightening it eliminates electrical and cooling losses that otherwise run for the life of the facility. It is the point he raises with customers directly: “Let’s really talk about efficiency.” Most of the work, he notes, is new build rather than retrofit.

Out of the Component Box

The reposition he most wants to land is about ABB itself. “ABB has a history of being a component manufacturer, and we absolutely want to break that myth,” he says, pointing instead to “grid-to-rack solutions” for a data centre. The products are not data-centre-specific. The same portfolio runs in marine, port, oil and gas and hospitals; but data centre is the segment growing quickest today.

The Monday Takeaway

Press your electrical supplier on efficiency and losses, not just lead time. Those losses compound for the life of the hall. And scope the power path as one grid-to-rack system rather than a cart of separately-sourced boxes.

This interview is part of Industrial Gemba’s coverage from Data Centre World Asia. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full interview on YouTube.