AI Compute Demand is Running Way Ahead of Supply — A Stock I’d Buy on That Signal

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS | MS Price Prediction) recently provided more insight into the state of the AI boom and the infrastructure deficit that could define it in the near future. As a part of their May 2026 thematic outlook, they cited a staggering 250% surge in global token usage since the start of the year. This AI-driven power demand is growing significantly faster than the supply, creating a gap that the market has yet to fully price in when it comes to top energy producers.

While the AI trade has certainly been sleepier in recent months, with the Nasdaq 100 coming back rapidly from a brief dip into correction territory, it certainly feels like the ingredients are in place for another leg higher. As the technology moves into a more advanced phase of “always-on” agentic inference, the bottleneck between AI’s hunger for compute and available power continues to widen.

Applied AI is here, and it might just be the tip of the iceberg

Anthropic’s Claude Mythos has been the talk of the town for good reason, though its release strategy has sparked significant debate. In late April 2026, Anthropic moved to restrict full access to Mythos to a select group of enterprises for defensive patching, citing its extreme proficiency in identifying zero-day vulnerabilities. This “defensive playbook” was validated when Mozilla reportedly used the model to identify and remediate over 270 vulnerabilities in Firefox in a single sweep.

As AI moves from simple chatbots to persistent agents, it’s difficult to envision how traditional power producers can catch up. This energy vacuum explains why hyperscalers are taking radical steps to secure their own power. Most notably, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) recently announced a partnership with Overview Energy to explore space-based solar power, targeting 1 GW of energy beamed from orbit—a move that underscores the “jarring” scale of the current deficit.

Here comes the AI inference inflection point?

The case for an AI bubble weakens with every tangible innovation that moves the needle on cybersecurity and industrial efficiency. For a user of consumer-facing models like Gemini 3.1 Pro, it’s difficult to fathom the potential behind Mythos, which sees increased usage as it becomes more power-efficient. This is Jevons Paradox in a nutshell: as efficiency improves, total consumption actually skyrockets because the technology becomes viable for more tasks.

Investors shouldn’t dismiss the tech as overhyped simply because it isn’t in everyone’s hands yet. Whether it’s the potential to uncover decades-old bugs or make future software releases nearly bulletproof, Mythos and its power-hungry rivals are redefining the infrastructure requirements of the next decade.

In light of this massive shortfall, Vistra (NASDAQ:VST) remains a compelling winner. Despite the stock trading roughly 23% below its recent highs, the company’s May 9 earnings report featured a massive beat, with EPS exceeding estimates by $1.55. With a 7.7 GW nuclear portfolio and deep ties to hyperscaler power deals, Vistra appears well-positioned to grow into its multiple as the industry continues to go nuclear—and beyond.

While Vistra is already a heavyweight champ in nuclear power, the big question remains how much of the “beyond-Earth” and next-generation nuclear potential is actually priced into the shares today.

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