GE Vernova beats Caterpillar on AI power exposure: $176 billion backlog

The comparison rests on two different kinds of exposure. GE Vernova sells equipment across the electricity value chain — generation, transmission, conversion and storage — and roughly 20% of its 116 gigawatts in contracted gas equipment is for data center customers, with the rest going to traditional utilities. Its aeroderivative gas turbines appeal to data center operators because they can be delivered in as little as six months, providing bridge power while operators wait for grid hookups or larger equipment.

Caterpillar's role is narrower but still tied to the build-out. Its standby and backup systems keep AI training and inference workloads running when primary power fails, and it also supplies excavation, grading and foundation equipment for data center construction sites. That construction and mining base makes its business more diversified than GE Vernova's, which is the reason its data center upside is less direct.

Both stocks have become significantly more volatile as they grew tied to the AI-themed trade. Their gains since the start of 2024 have come with drawdowns from 52-week highs, which the piece presents as a reminder that the exposure cuts both ways.