The AI Boom Isn’t Just About Chips. These 3 Overlooked Stocks Keep Data Centers Running
Everyone is betting on GPU makers, but the real bottleneck in the AI arms race sits in the concrete, copper, and chilled water keeping those chips alive. Three infrastructure stocks are already converting that bottleneck into record backlogs.
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The AI story usually stops at the GPU. The harder problem is powering and cooling the buildings that house them. Grid Strategies’ 2025 load growth report identified data centers as the largest driver of U.S. electricity demand, and every megawatt of AI compute needs someone to pour the pad, run the switchgear, pipe the chilled water, and keep the racks from overheating. This edition covers three US-listed companies doing exactly that work, with backlog and revenue already reflecting the buildout. Note upfront: Vertiv and Comfort Systems are large-cap infrastructure names, while Sterling Infrastructure is a mid-cap with heavier concentration in mission-critical projects, which tends to bring more volatility.
Comfort Systems USA: Mechanical Contractor Building the Guts of Hyperscale Data Centers
Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX | FIX Price Prediction) is the crew that physically installs the HVAC, piping, plumbing, and electrical systems inside data centers, semiconductor fabs and other mission-critical buildings. In plain terms, when a hyperscaler needs chilled-water piping, air handlers, and switchgear rooms wired up on a construction schedule that cannot slip, Comfort Systems shows up with the engineers and tradespeople.
The Q2 FY2026 print confirmed the demand story. Revenue reached $3.27 billion, up 50.3% year over year, with EPS of $12.53 versus $10.46 expected, the fifth straight EPS beat. Backlog hit a record $14.06 billion, up from $8.12 billion a year earlier. Technology customers, which include hyperscalers, accounted for 58% of first-half 2026 revenue, compared with 40% a year earlier. CEO Brian Lane described the tone from customers plainly: “We see no letdown whatsoever.” Shares were up 53.24% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case is straightforward. Modular construction capacity is expanding from 3.5 million square feet toward approximately 5 million square feet by late summer 2027, largely backed by existing customer commitments, and every project built today becomes a service annuity later. The risk: fixed-price contracts and construction cycle exposure mean margin can compress fast if labor tightens or a big job slips.
Vertiv Holdings: Power and Cooling Gear Inside Every AI Data Hall
Vertiv Holdings (NYSE:VRT) designs and manufactures the equipment that delivers clean electricity to AI servers and removes heat from GPU racks: uninterruptible power supplies (industrial-scale battery backup), power distribution units, busbars and switchgear and liquid-cooling systems. If Comfort Systems builds the room, Vertiv fills it with the gear. The company was added to the S&P 500 in March 2026.
Q2 FY2026 results validated the raised outlook. Net sales came in at $3.274 billion, up 24% year over year with 18% organic growth, and adjusted operating margin expanded 410 basis points to 22.6%. Adjusted free cash flow was $925 million, up 234%. Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to net sales of $14 billion at the midpoint and adjusted diluted EPS of $6.70 at the midpoint, up 60% versus 2025. CEO Giordano Albertazzi framed the demand backdrop this way: “Demand for AI and general compute continues to intensify and with each technology advancement, deployments grow more complex and more infrastructure-intensive.” Shares were up 43.29% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case rests on content per megawatt. As racks move toward 800-volt DC architectures with medium-voltage UPS, DC sidecars, and solid-state transformers, Vertiv sells more gear per data hall. Its PurgeRite Near Zero fluid-management service reduces water used at startup by up to 90%, another differentiator that shows up in services revenue. The risk: Q2 revenue timing shifted on multiphase project complexity and supply-chain interdependencies and EMEA organic sales declined 2.4% in Q2.
Sterling Infrastructure: Site Development and Electrical Work for Data-Center Campuses
Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) does the work before servers ever arrive: grading, excavation, concrete pads, and utilities for the massive plots of land where data centers, semiconductor campuses, and EV plants get built. Through its CEC acquisition, it also runs electrical services on those same sites. Sterling is a mid-cap with a market cap of roughly $14.39 billion, and its E-Infrastructure segment is heavily concentrated in mission-critical work, making it more cyclical than the other two names. Volatility can run higher as a result.
Q2 FY2026 revenue was $1.17 billion, up 90.1% year over year, with organic growth of approximately 50%. Adjusted diluted EPS came in at $5.80 versus $5 expected, a 16% beat, the fourth consecutive beat. E-Infrastructure revenue grew 192% and now represents 78% of total revenue, and mission-critical projects account for more than 92% of E-Infrastructure signed backlog. Signed backlog stands at $4.33 billion, up 116%, and the total addressable pool of work exceeds $7 billion, an increase of more than $2.5 billion since year-end 2025. Management raised FY2026 guidance to revenue of $4.00 billion to $4.15 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of $19.70 to $20.30. CEO Joe Cutillo said projects historically viewed as three-year opportunities are now being scoped as lasting “five to eight to 12 years” as customers buy adjacent land and expand. Shares were up 43.34% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case: Sterling is being pulled into more geographies and more phases of the same customer campuses, with CEC’s electrical arm now landing second buildings at existing sites. The risk is real. Building Solutions is exposed to housing weakness through 2026, integration risk from CEC and Stone Ridge remains, and mission-critical concentration means any pullback in hyperscaler CapEx hits harder here than at FIX or VRT. Cutillo also warned that third-quarter awards could come in softer on timing, with a possible sequential backlog decline that reflects timing rather than demand.
What to Watch Next
These three companies are already generating the revenue that pure-play AI infrastructure trades are pricing in for later. Vertiv and Comfort Systems offer scale and blue-chip balance sheets with backlog visibility stretching into 2027. Sterling offers the highest growth rate of the three, at the cost of higher concentration and mid-cap volatility. Track hyperscaler CapEx commentary and, more specifically, backlog conversion and same-store growth at each company’s next print. That is where the AI buildout becomes a cash flow story. If you want a wider map of the suppliers keeping this buildout fed, from power to cooling to networking, we pulled seven of them into a free report on the AI boom beyond the chipmakers.
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Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
