
Investment in artificial intelligence is rotating from chip makers to the companies that supply power and cooling systems for AI data centers. Vertiv Holdings and Bloom Energy are seeing explosive growth—Vertiv reported first-quarter revenue up 30% to $2.65 billion(約4200億円) and earnings per share up 83%, while Bloom's revenue jumped 130% to $751 million(約1200億円) and the company swung to profit. The shift reflects a durable, physical bottleneck: every new AI cluster requires vast amounts of electricity and cooling, creating steady demand for specialized suppliers beyond chip manufacturers.
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Investors are moving money away from chip makers like Nvidia toward companies supplying power and cooling systems for AI data centers. Vertiv Holdings, which makes data-center power and cooling equipment, reported first-quarter revenue up 30% year over year to $2.65 billion(約4200億円) and adjusted earnings per share up 83% to $1.17. Bloom Energy, which builds on-site fuel cells, reported first-quarter revenue up 130% year over year to $751 million(約1200億円) and swung to a profit of about $71 million(約110億円).
Why it matters
Every new AI cluster requires enormous amounts of electricity and cooling to prevent thousands of chips from overheating—a physical need that creates steady demand for specialized suppliers. Vertiv's backlog more than doubled to $15 billion(約2.4兆円) (roughly 1 to 18 months of revenue), and Bloom recently expanded a master agreement with Oracle to supply up to 2.8 gigawatts of fuel cells and scaled an AI-focused power financing partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to $25 billion(約4兆円). For businesses building AI infrastructure, this shift signals the emerging importance of power and cooling as bottlenecks that are less crowded than the chip trade.
What to watch
Both stocks trade at elevated valuations—Vertiv at around 50 times forward earnings (up about 97% this year) and Bloom at well over 100 times expected earnings (up more than 180% this year). Vertiv's backlog and profitability (adjusted operating margin expanded to about 21%) offer more visibility than Bloom's more speculative profile, though both price in years of strong growth.
For the past two years, investors betting on artificial intelligence focused on chipmakers, the most visible players in the boom. As that trade matured, capital is now flowing toward the less glamorous but equally essential infrastructure that makes large-scale AI possible: the power systems and cooling equipment that data centers cannot operate without. The body of the article presents this as a structural shift—not a rejection of chips, but a recognition that the constraint has moved downstream.
Both Vertiv and Bloom Energy are capturing this demand through different models. Vertiv serves thousands of customers with standardized equipment that flows into every new data-center build; its profitability (adjusted operating margin near 21%) and large backlog ($15 billion(約2.4兆円)) suggest revenue visibility even at a rich valuation. Bloom targets a narrower but more acute problem: regions where grid capacity cannot keep pace with AI campus buildouts. Bloom's recent deals with Oracle and Brookfield (master agreement for up to 2.8 gigawatts and a $25 billion(約4兆円) financing partnership, respectively) show that major hyperscalers view on-site generation as essential, not optional.
The article's concluding assessment is candid: the rotation itself makes sense because powering and cooling AI is a durable, physical need less crowded than the chip trade, but both stocks already price in years of strong growth. Vertiv is presented as the steadier choice due to its profitability, customer diversification, and backlog visibility, yet even it may be overpriced. For business readers, the headline point is that the infrastructure bottleneck has shifted, creating new investment opportunities—but valuations across the sector leave little room for disappointment.
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