"AI Made Electricity Reinvent Itself 150 Years After Edison" Featuring KR Sridhar, Ph.D., Bloom Energy

Today we were delighted to welcome KR Sridhar, Ph.D., Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy. KR’s academic background includes a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s in Nuclear Engineering, and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Before founding Bloom, KR served as Director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona, where he led a NASA project to develop fuel cells capable of producing oxygen for future Mars missions. That breakthrough research ultimately inspired the founding of Bloom Energy in 2001. Bloom went public in 2018 and is a leader in solid oxide fuel cell technology, delivering always-on, on-site power. Its systems convert natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen into electricity without combustion, helping power data centers and hospitals to microgrids and industrial facilities and beyond. We were thrilled to visit with KR to discuss fuel cells, the evolving power landscape, Bloom’s progress, and what lies ahead.
 
In our conversation, KR shares reflections on the past 24 years of technology development since founding Bloom in 2001 and his original vision for the company, the shift from the mechanical/industrial age to the digital age, and the opportunity he saw to support rising energy demand driven by economic growth. We discuss Bloom’s high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells, the history of the underlying physics stemming from an 1890s patent, product development and commercialization, and KR’s reliance on top-tier, seasoned venture investors willing to commit capital and time. We explore the advantages of being in Silicon Valley with access to risk capital and highly skilled engineers, Bloom’s strategic choice to focus on natural gas as a commercially viable fuel, and KR’s thesis on distributed electricity as a way to provide access, affordability, and sustainability. KR discusses Bloom’s fuel cell technology and strategic design choices, highlighting the application of Moore’s Law to drive annual cost reductions, and outlines the target market and growth trajectory, focusing on AI data centers and the increasing need for on-site power. He emphasizes the advantages of Bloom’s modular on-site power solutions, commercial adoption milestones, and the company’s cost-effectiveness compared with traditional turbines and engines. We touch on Bloom technology’s scalability from powering a store to a full data center or factory, their supply chain and ability to scale rapidly to meet growing demand, the technology moat between them and any other competitor, and Bloom’s relationship with natural gas producers. We had a hard time ending the discussion, but to conclude, we asked KR for his vision for Bloom ten years from now. He shared an inspiring vision for abundant, affordable, accessible, and sustainable electricity. As mentioned, Bloom’s recent white paper on fuel cells is linked here. We greatly appreciate KR for sharing his time and unique insights.
 
To kick us off, Mike Bradley noted that all eyes are on Wednesday’s FOMC Rate Decision Meeting, with consensus expecting a 25 basis-point interest rate cut and two additional 25 basis-point rate cuts through year-end. He emphasized that Wednesday’s rate cut is fully consensus/dialed in and wouldn’t be surprised if the week proves to be more of a “buy the rumor, sell the fact.” Furthermore, Chairman Powell’s press conference tone will be extremely important in determining how aggressive interest rate cuts could be through year-end. On the broader market front, the S&P 500 has historically risen ~0.5% on average one week following the last three interest rate cuts, so there could be some very-very modest follow through this week. Equity market observers are hopeful that a series of interest rate cuts will allow market breadth to expand beyond AI/Big Tech stocks, which currently comprise ~35% of the S&