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The biggest buildout in tech history is underway, and traders are placing their bets accordingly. Stocks tied to AI data center construction are surging as hyperscale cloud providers collectively guide for somewhere between $600 billion and $630 billion in combined capital expenditures for 2026, with roughly 75% of that budget earmarked for AI-related infrastructure.
The companies cashing in
When Amazon plans to invest about $200 billion and Alphabet guides for roughly $175 billion to $185 billion, the companies selling shovels during this particular gold rush tend to do pretty well. The revised spending forecasts represent a significant upward shift from prior predictions.
Vertiv, which makes the power and cooling systems that keep data centers from literally melting, has been one of the biggest winners. The stock is up over 70% year-to-date. The company reported order growth of 252%, building a backlog of $15 billion. Vertiv also raised its 2026 revenue guidance to between $13.5 billion and $14 billion, with adjusted earnings per share projected at $6.30 to $6.40.
The demand spike is largely driven by the industry’s shift toward high-density server racks. These racks pack more compute power into less space, which sounds great until you realize they generate enormous amounts of heat. Advanced cooling systems aren’t optional anymore.
Other major data center stocks attracting trader attention include Digital Realty, carrying a market cap of around $66 billion, and Equinix at roughly $100 billion. On the hardware side, Nvidia sits at approximately $5 trillion in market cap, while Dell hovers around $252 billion.
Why the spending keeps accelerating
AI data centers are projected to consume up to 70% of global memory chips by 2026. Companies like Micron and TSMC sit squarely in the path of this demand wave, manufacturing the memory and processors that make AI workloads possible.
South Korea announced plans to invest over $1 trillion in semiconductors and AI data centers, a move that boosted shares in suppliers like Vertiv by approximately 7% on the announcement alone.
What this means for investors
The hyperscalers have committed to spending levels that provide multi-year revenue visibility for their suppliers. Vertiv’s $15 billion backlog represents roughly a full year of revenue at its current guidance range.
Concentration risk is real. Amazon and Alphabet alone account for a combined $375 billion to $385 billion of the projected capex. With AI data centers projected to consume 70% of global memory chips, any disruption to chip manufacturing could simultaneously hurt data center buildout timelines and spike component costs. Investors positioned in this theme need to watch TSMC’s capacity expansion plans and US-China trade dynamics as closely as they watch earnings reports.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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