The company that took the copper wire out of the electric motor - and put a circuit board in its place.
Electric motors are everywhere and almost invisible. They move air, water, vehicles and factories, and together they consume close to 45% of the world's electricity. The basic recipe - iron core, copper windings, spin - has barely changed since the 1880s.
Infinitum's wager is that the recipe was overdue for a rewrite. Instead of winding copper wire around a heavy iron core, the company prints the copper as conductive traces onto a printed circuit board (PCB) stator. Pull out the iron, print the copper, and the machine that results is a different animal: about 50% smaller and lighter, using 66% less copper and roughly 10% less energy, and - the company says - up to 10x more reliable.
Founded in 2016 by Ben Schuler and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Infinitum sells these "air core" motors to industrial and commercial buyers. The flagship is the Aircore EC motor system, which folds a variable frequency drive into the motor and meets IE4/IE5 efficiency standards.
Figures per Infinitum's published comparisons to standard iron-core stator motors. Directional; actual results vary by application.
The Aircore EC motor system's headline specs - the reasons an HVAC maker or data center operator picks up the phone.
The PCB-stator design is a platform. Infinitum tunes it into distinct product lines for the applications that burn the most motor energy.
The flagship air core motor system with an integrated variable frequency drive. IE4/IE5, up to ~93% system efficiency, offered in standard frame sizes for commercial and industrial use.
Unveiled at AHR Expo 2025 for the highest-emitting HVAC fan and pump applications - including the cooling loads of AI data centers.
Configurations for plenum fans, fan arrays and pumps, enabling redundant, modular arrays that take less labor to install and service.
Motor systems with integrated power electronics built for high-reliability duty such as continuous data center cooling.
Motor systems for power generation and transportation, including a hybrid-assist automotive development program.
Lighter, repairable designs built for a remanufacture and circular-economy model rather than a landfill.
We believe better performance should not require more energy, more waste, or more compromise.
Customers are commercial and industrial: HVAC fan and pump makers such as Canarm, data center operators cooling AI workloads, industrial plants, and power generation and mobility buyers. Sales run directly and through partners like Rockwell Automation.
The problem is that industry runs on motors, and most motors waste energy, copper and space. As AI data centers push cooling demand higher, the fans and pumps that reject their heat become a large, growing electricity draw. Shaving even a fifth off that load, at scale, is real decarbonization.
Infinitum reports it has doubled its motor deployments inside some of the world's largest data centers, where the motors cut fan energy by roughly 20%.
Based on Infinitum's reported ~20% fan-energy reduction. Indexed for illustration.
The electric motor market is dominated by long-established names - ABB, Siemens, WEG, Nidec, Regal Rexnord, Yaskawa - and a handful of advanced-motor startups. Infinitum's edge is structural, not incremental.
Most efficiency gains in the incumbent world come from better iron, better windings, better drives - refinements of the same architecture. Infinitum changed the architecture. Removing the iron core and printing the copper is what unlocks the weight, material and serviceability advantages at once.
That also reshapes the supply chain. Using 66% less copper is not just a spec - it is insulation against a volatile, increasingly scarce commodity. And when Rockwell Automation agrees to bolt its PowerFlex drive to your motor and sell it, the market has cast a vote.
We're reimagining the electric motor.
Named No. 19 overall and No. 1 in energy on Fast Company's 2025 World's 50 Most Innovative Companies.
Investors range from climate funds to industrial strategics - a mix that reflects both the decarbonization story and the hard-tech reality of building motors at volume.
Total funding to date reported at $350M+ after the Series E, rising with the extension. Other backers include Alliance Resource Partners, Cottonwood Technology Fund and Ajax Strategies.
Ben Schuler starts Infinitum to replace the iron-core motor with a printed circuit board stator.
Agrees to develop a hybrid-assist motor for a leading automotive supplier, stretching the platform toward mobility.
Energy Innovation Capital leads; Rockwell Automation and Chevron Technology Ventures invest.
Raises $110M and ships its first customer motors.
Acquires PCB maker Circuit Connect and signs to pair Aircore EC with Rockwell's PowerFlex drives; closes a $185M Series E led by Just Climate.
Launches a 20% lighter motor system and adds a $35M Series E extension.
Named to the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies and unveils Aircore Heavy Duty at AHR Expo.
Infinitum publishes product walkthroughs, event coverage and founder talks on its YouTube channel.
High-efficiency electric motor systems built around a printed circuit board (PCB) stator, sold to industrial and commercial customers for HVAC, data center cooling, industrial equipment, power generation and mobility.
It replaces the traditional iron core and copper wire windings with a printed circuit board stator, making the motor roughly 50% smaller and lighter, using 66% less copper and about 10% less energy, and reportedly up to 10x more reliable.
It was founded in 2016 by Ben Schuler, who serves as Founder and CEO, and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with about 280 employees.
More than $385M in total, including a $185M Series E led by Just Climate in 2023 and a $35M Series E extension in 2024, with investors such as Rockwell Automation, Chevron Technology Ventures and Riverstone Holdings.
In commercial HVAC fans and pumps, data center cooling for AI workloads, industrial applications, power generation and mobility - often through partners like Rockwell Automation and OEMs like Canarm.
Profile compiled from public sources. Figures are as reported by Infinitum and press; treat performance numbers as approximate.