Eaton used its third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 3 to make a claim about a technology that is still early in its commercial path. According to Utility Dive, Eaton CEO Paulo Ruiz told investors that the company's 15-kV, 2-MW solid-state transformer (SST) became, "to our knowledge," the first multi-megawatt unit to pass all tests under a new UL Solutions standard for the technology.
That claim comes from the CEO, as reported by one outlet. Eaton's third-quarter earnings release (Exhibit 99 to its Form 8-K, dated Nov. 3) mentions solid-state transformers only in a note describing its August 2025 purchase of Resilient Power Systems, and none of the three sources reviewed contains a separate Eaton announcement or a UL listing confirming the test result. The statement is attributed here to Ruiz, as relayed by Utility Dive.
The call also gave a picture of how large Eaton thinks the data center pipeline has become. Ruiz said, "We track the projects that are announced, and now they amount to 366 GW," against installed capacity of 50 GW, Utility Dive reported. TheStreet Pro, in an investor-analysis piece published Nov. 3, reported that the 366 GW figure was up from 307 GW at Eaton's previous update, and described the installed base as about 50 GW.
What a solid-state transformer is for
Utility Dive describes solid-state transformers as devices that use magnets and semiconductors rather than specialized steel alloys and large amounts of copper wiring, making them more compact and efficient than traditional low- and medium-voltage transformers. Eaton expects the industry to move toward 800-volt direct-current architecture for data centers, according to the same report, and Ruiz framed SSTs as part of that shift.
Utility Dive cited two data points on why the approach is drawing attention. A McKinsey analysis found that data centers built on 800-volt DC architecture could reduce non-IT capital expenditures by up to 18%. Separately, the Electric Power Research Institute, the New York Power Authority and North Carolina State University tested a 1-MW SST under "real-world" conditions earlier this year and found it cut power losses in half compared with a traditional transformer configuration.
Eaton's SST work traces in part to an acquisition. According to Eaton's 8-K release, the company acquired Resilient Power Systems Inc., a North American developer and manufacturer of energy solutions including solid-state transformer-based technology, on Aug. 6, 2025, for $86 million. That figure includes $55 million of cash paid at closing and an initial $31 million estimate of the fair value of contingent future consideration tied to 2025 through 2028 revenue and technology milestones. Utility Dive also reports the $86 million price.
"The timing of that transition is not under our control"
Ruiz did not present the AC-to-DC shift as settled on a schedule. The direction of travel from AC to DC "is real because of the large power savings that the customers see in this new technology," he said, according to Utility Dive, but "the timing of that transition is not under our control."
He described SSTs as one of several "key building blocks" needed, along with DC breaker, power quality and advanced cooling technologies. "The AC architectures are not bad, and we are fine either way," Ruiz said. "We win in either path."
The quarter behind the claim
The SST remark arrived alongside what Eaton's earnings release describes as record third-quarter results. Among the figures in the release, dated Nov. 3, 2026:
- Sales of $8.9 billion, up 28%, made up of 19% organic growth, 8% from acquisitions and 1% from foreign exchange.
- Twelve-month rolling average organic orders up 39% in Electrical Americas, 51% in Electrical Global and 20% in Aerospace.
- Total backlog up 46% year over year in the Electrical businesses and 33% in Aerospace.
- Record segment margins of 25.3%.
- Operating cash flow of $1.31 billion and free cash flow of $1.03 billion.
Utility Dive reported additional segment detail from the call: Electrical Americas backlog of $16 billion, up 33% year over year, and Electrical Americas sales of $4.2 billion in the quarter, up 22%. Data centers and distributed IT accounted for 21% of Eaton's 2025 sales and utilities for 11%, according to the same report.
TheStreet Pro reported that Eaton's electrical data center orders more than doubled on a rolling 12-month basis and that data center revenue rose about 65% year over year. Eaton's release also puts third-quarter adjusted earnings per share at a record $3.68.
Acquisitions aimed at capacity
The 8-K release lays out a string of deals that bear on data center supply. On Sept. 25, 2026, Eaton signed an agreement to acquire COL Group, a medium-voltage electrical distribution business with facilities in Italy, for €810 million ($921 million at the Sept. 30, 2026 exchange rate). The company says the deal will expand its European manufacturing footprint and power distribution capabilities for data center and utility markets.
The filing also notes two completed acquisitions. Eaton closed its purchase of Boyd Thermal on March 12, 2026, for $9.55 billion net of cash; the filing describes Boyd as a U.S.-based leader in thermal components, systems and ruggedized solutions for data center, aerospace and other end markets. Eaton bought Fibrebond, a builder of pre-integrated modular power enclosures for data center, industrial, utility and communications customers, on April 1, 2025, for $1.43 billion net of cash acquired, according to the 8-K.
Taken together with the Resilient Power Systems purchase, those deals span power conversion, medium-voltage distribution, modular power and cooling, several of which line up with the building blocks Ruiz listed, though no source ties the individual acquisitions to the SST program.
Reading the 366 GW figure
The gap between 366 GW announced and roughly 50 GW installed is large, and it is worth being precise about what it measures. "Announced" projects are not the same as projects that have been permitted, financed, connected to the grid or built. Eaton's figure is its own count of announcements, as relayed by Ruiz and reported by Utility Dive and TheStreet Pro; neither source describes the method behind it or how many of those projects have secured power.
What the figure does show is the direction of Eaton's own tracking: TheStreet Pro reported it rose from 307 GW to 366 GW between updates.
What Happens Next
Eaton's 8-K release sets full-year 2026 guidance of 13% to 15% organic growth and adjusted earnings per share of $13.70 to $13.80, and fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $4.05 to $4.15. Eaton expects its end markets to grow about 11% in 2027, according to both Utility Dive and TheStreet Pro.
The COL Group transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and, according to the 8-K release, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. None of the sources gives a date for commercial availability or first customer deployment of Eaton's 2-MW SST, and Ruiz said the timing of the broader AC-to-DC transition is outside Eaton's control.
