For decades, the electrical equipment industry was a sleepy corner of the market. But as Forgent Power Solutions prepares for a nearly $9 billion debut on the New York Stock Exchange in February, it’s clear that era has come to an end.
Forgent, which makes the transformers, switchgears, and controls in high demand from data center hyperscalers and energy developers, filed for an IPO this week, targeting an $8.8 billion valuation that would put it squarely among mid-cap publicly traded companies. It marked a rapid rise for a company that only officially launched under the Forgent name in August 2025, after a private equity firm integrated four separate equipment makers.
Electrical equipment is in short supply in the U.S. Lead times can be up to four years because domestic manufacturers can’t keep up with the spike in demand, and importers face their own supply chain challenges overseas, from raw materials to labor. The squeeze is reflected in Forgent’s SEC filing, which stated that the company has a backlog of $1 billion in purchase orders and saw its revenue grow 56% between fiscal 2024 and 2025, with plans to expand manufacturing capacity this year.
Forgent has marketed itself as a solution to the lengthy wait times facing data centers and power developers in two ways. First, its factories are in the U.S. and Mexico, allowing it to skip more complex overseas supply chains. Second, its custom, pre-assembled “powertrains” are equipped with all the hardware artificial intelligence data centers need to get electricity flowing.
That said, S&P Global analysts in December said that the company is niche compared to the larger, more diversified electrical equipment companies — and therefore more vulnerable to economic volatility. While Forgent has strong tailwinds from the AI data center boom, efforts to harden the grid, and the reshoring of manufacturing operations, the company noted in its SEC filing that its margins could take a hit if the prices of steel, aluminum or copper increase and the company can’t pass those costs on to customers.
The company didn’t respond to questions from Latitude Media, including about how its lead times compared to larger competitors like Schneider Electric and Eaton.
‘Plug and play’
Forgent said its customers are seeking prefabricated systems to reduce the amount of field labor, in part because there’s a shortage of electricians in the U.S.
The company’s “plug and play” solution is reminiscent of how Shoals Technologies packages its own wiring system for utility-scale solar. Shoals sells a factory-made cable system with all the connections needed to transfer solar power to the grid, an innovation that cut down on the installation and labor costs of solar projects.
Shoals went public in 2021 during a bull market for renewable energy, raising about $2 billion. Since then, however, the share price has plummeted from $33 to $10, even as the company expanded into the growing battery storage market and reported a record $721 million order backlog in an earnings call last year.
Forgent aims to raise up to $1.6 billion and is targeting a share price between $25 and $29. Hyperscalers are driving most of its growth, accounting for about 42% of Forgent’s total revenue in fiscal 2025 — many of which want customized equipment.
“Data center and other customers are demanding increasing levels of customization from their suppliers to meet the rapidly evolving requirements of electrical infrastructure, including higher voltages, increasing currents, greater power densities, integration of on-site generation and the incorporation of battery storage,” Forgent said in the filing.
Utilities and energy developers accounted for about 23% of Forgent’s revenue last year, driven by the replacement of aging grid infrastructure and companies increasingly installing on-site solar power, gas turbines, and battery storage to avoid length interconnection queues.
