Why These Five AI Data Center Stocks Deserve a Spot in Your Portfolio

The artificial intelligence infrastructure boom represents one of the most compelling investment opportunities of the decade. As enterprises and hyperscalers race to build and upgrade data centers to support AI workloads, a specific category of stocks is emerging as the primary beneficiary. These AI data center stocks aren’t just experiencing temporary gains—they’re positioned at the intersection of multiple secular growth trends that will drive returns for years to come.

The AI Infrastructure Investment Landscape

The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the generative AI market is projected to grow to $1.3 trillion over the next decade, starting from just $40 billion in 2022. This explosive growth trajectory isn’t theoretical. The International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that global AI spending will expand by 31.9% annually from 2025 through 2029, ultimately reaching approximately $1.3 trillion by 2029—representing 26% of all global IT expenditure.

This macro tailwind is already visible in market performance. Five specific AI data center stocks have delivered returns exceeding 45% in 2025, and analyst consensus suggests this is still early innings for this group.

What’s driving this relentless demand? Three interconnected factors: cloud computing infrastructure explosion, the proliferation of data-intensive AI applications, and the critical need for enhanced data center capacity. These aren’t isolated trends—they’re reinforcing each other, creating a decade-long growth runway for companies positioned correctly in the supply chain.

What Makes These AI Data Center Stocks Stand Out

Identifying winning AI data center stocks requires understanding which companies occupy irreplaceable positions in the infrastructure layer. The five stocks highlighted below share common characteristics: dominant market positions, specialized expertise, favorable growth forecasts, and improving analyst sentiment.

Each company currently maintains either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or Rank #2 (Buy) designation. Importantly, Zacks Consensus Estimates for earnings have improved significantly over recent months—indicating that analysts are becoming more bullish on near-term prospects.

The selection spans the AI supply chain ecosystem: connectivity solutions providers, storage innovators, manufacturing partners, and cooling infrastructure specialists. This diversification across different infrastructure layers reduces concentrated risk while maintaining exposure to multiple AI growth drivers.

Amphenol: Dominating AI Connectivity Solutions

Amphenol Corporation holds a fortress-like position in AI-powered interconnect systems. The company supplies high-density, high-speed connectors and cables essential for modern data centers—infrastructure that’s impossible to substitute or commoditize.

The numbers are staggering. Amphenol commands an estimated 33% market share in AI-powered data center interconnects. This isn’t just a current strength; it reflects deep engineering relationships, unmatched design capabilities, and manufacturing scale that competitors struggle to replicate.

Beyond pure data center exposure, Amphenol benefits from expanded demand across Defense, Commercial Aviation, Industrial applications, and IT infrastructure. Rising AI adoption is fueling requirements for high-speed interconnects, while electrification in transportation and increased electronic content in medical devices provide additional long-term growth vectors.

The financial projections are equally attractive. Amphenol boasts expected revenue growth of 41.5% and earnings growth of 59.8% for the current year. Analyst consensus has improved 1.3% over the last month, signaling emerging confidence in maintaining these growth rates.

Western Digital: Capitalizing on Storage Explosion

Western Digital has transformed into a primary beneficiary of the AI storage revolution. The company’s cloud end-market, representing 90% of total revenue, expanded 36% in the most recent quarter—driven by massive demand for high-capacity nearline hard disk drives.

The technology transitions underway are fascinating. Western Digital has doubled shipments of its 26TB CMR and 32TB UltraSMR drives while preparing to ramp HAMR technology in the first half of 2027. These represent genuine technological leaps that expand storage density and economics.

What’s particularly intriguing is the dual-track opportunity. While traditional hard disk drive demand remains robust from data center operators, generative AI is simultaneously driving a client-side refresh cycle. Adoption of generative AI surged from 33% in 2023 to 65% in 2024—creating urgency around device upgrades and increased content storage demands across smartphones, gaming, PCs, and consumer electronics.

Western Digital’s fiscal first-quarter 2026 guidance of $2.7 billion (±$100 million) represents 22% growth, primarily fueled by persistent data center demand and high-capacity drive adoption. The company anticipates revenue growth of -17.8% for the full fiscal year (ending June 2026)—a temporary normalization—but earnings expansion of 31.9%. Zacks Consensus Estimates have improved 13.4% over 60 days, suggesting analysts are increasingly optimistic about profitability trajectories.

Celestica: The EMS Player Commanding AI Infrastructure

Celestica occupies a critical position as one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturing services providers. The company partners with cloud providers, OEMs, and enterprises, delivering the manufactured infrastructure that powers AI deployments.

Celestica’s competitive strength concentrates in hyperscaler-serving capabilities, particularly in networking and optical programs where demand for 800G and 400G network switches is accelerating. The company has essentially staked a dominant position in the emerging AI infrastructure manufacturing space.

The market opportunity is substantial. Grandview Research projects the AI infrastructure market to reach $223.45 billion by 2030, representing a 30.4% compound annual growth rate from 2024 through 2030. Celestica is systematically expanding product offerings to capture share in this expanding ecosystem. Enterprise-level demand for data communications products, routers, switches, data center interconnects, edge solutions, and storage-related infrastructure is driving consistent expansion.

Financial metrics support optimism. Celestica expects revenue growth of 20.6% and earnings expansion of 43% for the current year. Consensus estimates have improved 9.9% over 60 days, indicating sustained analyst confidence.

Jabil: End-Market Diversification Meets AI Focus

Jabil represents the global EMS giant uniquely positioned to benefit from multiple concurrent trends. The company serves customers across more than a dozen industrial verticals, with particular strength in capital equipment, AI-powered data center infrastructure, cloud computing, and digital commerce segments.

What distinguishes Jabil is strategic discipline. Management’s philosophy—that no single product or product family should exceed 5% of operating income in any fiscal year—reduces concentration risk while forcing the organization to pursue multiple growth vectors simultaneously.

The capital allocation story is equally compelling. Jabil announced plans to invest $500 million over the coming years specifically to expand manufacturing capacity for AI data center infrastructure. This commitment underscores management’s conviction about demand trajectory and willingness to build dedicated supply chain capabilities.

Jabil’s global footprint—100 locations across 30 countries—combined with centralized procurement and unified enterprise systems, provides customers with end-to-end supply chain visibility. A connected factory network enables production scaling as market dynamics evolve. Additionally, management is systematically deploying AI and machine learning technologies to optimize internal processes and operational efficiency.

The financial picture reflects this diversification and focus. Expected revenue growth stands at 6.1% with earnings expansion of 17.8% for the current year (ending August 2026). While more modest than pure-play peers, this reflects the company’s stable, diversified base combined with new AI infrastructure opportunity capture.

Comfort Systems: Solving the Cooling Challenge

Often overlooked by investors, Comfort Systems USA plays an essential but frequently underappreciated role in enabling data center expansion. As a national leader in HVAC installation, maintenance, and services, the company has become a critical partner for data center operators managing thermal challenges.

Data center cooling requirements have evolved dramatically. Modern facilities demand precision cooling systems delivering reliable, consistent performance—requirements that are driving significant investments in advanced technologies including liquid cooling solutions and modular units. This segment is emerging as a major growth driver for Comfort Systems, offering high-margin opportunities and attracting consolidation activity from larger service conglomerates.

HVAC firms possessing specialized capabilities in precision cooling and energy-efficient infrastructure are particularly well-positioned to capture emerging market share. Comfort Systems possesses these capabilities, positioning it advantageously as the data center sector expands.

The financial trajectory is attractive. Expected revenue growth of 13.9% and earnings expansion of 44.1% for the current year reflect both underlying market growth and operational leverage. Zacks Consensus Estimates have improved 10.8% over 60 days, indicating sustained analyst optimism about growth maintenance.

Building Your AI Data Center Stock Portfolio

The five AI data center stocks outlined above share several defining characteristics: market leadership positions, direct exposure to decade-long infrastructure expansion trends, improving analyst sentiment, and financial projections suggesting substantial earnings growth ahead.

Each company occupies a specific niche within the broader AI infrastructure ecosystem. Diversification across this group—from connectivity to storage to manufacturing to cooling—provides balanced exposure while reducing the impact of any single company-specific risk.

For investors seeking to capitalize on the foundational AI infrastructure opportunity, these AI data center stocks represent a strategic entry point. Current valuations, while reflecting the magnitude of opportunity, haven’t fully priced in the probability that this expansion cycle will extend for a complete decade or more.