On October 28, 2026, GE Vernova agreed to buy Trench Group, which sells bushings and other high-voltage parts to GE Vernova’s own rivals. Hitachi Energy, Siemens Energy, Hyosung, HD Hyundai Electric and SGB-SMIT all hold Trench supply agreements. After the close, expected in late 2027, they’ll be buying from a competitor.

My analysis sizes that layer of the grid (bushings, instrument transformers, and coils and reactors, counted as producer revenue) at an estimated $6.6 billion in 2025, growing at a base-case 7.0% CAGR to $9.3 billion in 2030. After the close, an estimated three-fifths of it will be made by companies that also build the transformers and HVDC equipment it goes into.

The bushing is where it bites. It’s the part that gates a transformer’s delivery, and bushing lead times run up to two years. Four transformer makers each hold a Trench supply agreement, and this research didn’t find any of them making their own extra-high-voltage bushings. Nothing changes under the agreements in force today. It changes at renewals and at new 765 kV and HVDC awards, which is exactly where the growth is: those top voltage classes are the smallest slice of the layer and the fastest growing, carried by ERCOT’s 765 kV Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan and by utility tenders such as Power Grid Corporation of India’s 2025 bid for 765 kV bushings. Can a buyer just switch to an independent? At the ±800 kV HVDC class, this research found no independent bushing producer outside China once Trench is inside GE Vernova. So a transformer maker without its own extra-high-voltage bushing line buys from Trench or from another equipment maker, and after the close either one is a competitor. The alternative to one rival is another rival.

The report names those four buyers, maps each one’s exposure, and sizes each voltage tier with its own growth rate and forecast. The full analysis is on the High-Voltage Grid Components Market report page.