AI Devours Electricity: Who Are the Beneficiaries?
Artificial intelligence has long been more than just a buzzword for tech enthusiasts. It is transforming the world of work, driving space exploration, and is now even shaping the nature of warfare as AI-controlled drones and guided missiles are deployed. All of this requires data centers—and data centers need one thing above all else: electricity, in massive and ever-growing quantities. At the end of July, the major operators Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft reported excellent quarterly results, but the initial euphoria on the stock market has since faded in light of the sheer scale of the necessary investments—amounting to several hundred billion US dollars (for each of these companies!). For investors, it may therefore make more sense not to seek out the best-known names, but to focus specifically on other points along the value chain. Three companies exemplify just how different these entry points can be.
NU E Power: Land Provider for Electric Utilities
At the very beginning of the chain lies the question of where the electricity actually comes from. This is precisely where NU E Power positions itself. The Canadian company does not see itself as a data center operator but rather as a developer of energy parks—strategically located sites designed to supply data centers, industrial facilities and other large-scale power consumers with the additional capacity they will need in the future. The business model follows a logic that CEO Broderick Gunning likens to that of a real estate developer: land is secured and then enhanced through zoning, permits, grid connections, and purchase agreements—except that, in the end, power plants are built instead of houses. Which generation technology is used at each location is still secondary at this early stage. There are also hardly any restrictions when it comes to monetizing the projects: Management relies on reselling largely approved projects, forming joint ventures with capital partners, or establishing long-term investments with recurring revenue from ongoing operations.
A completed solar plant in Alberta, Lethbridge One, has been in commercial production since December 2024 and supplies electricity to the local utility, Lethbridge Electric Utility. NU E Power holds a 25% stake in the project, which corresponds to a net capacity of 2.19 MW. Across its entire portfolio, the company currently has a net capacity of 613.94 MW, only a small portion of which is actually connected to the grid. The majority is in the development phase. NU E Power signed an initial non-binding letter of intent (LOI) in January 2026 with asset manager Green Harbor Partners for a package of three additional sites in Alberta, including Lethbridge Two, Lethbridge Three and Hanna. In July 2026, NU E Power and Green Harbor deepened their relationship by signing a non-binding LOI to pursue a planned 50/50 joint venture (JV) covering turbine supply and financing. A site in Saskatchewan is also still in the early stages, with an option in place since summer 2025. The land is currently neither zoned nor serviced. At the same time, NU E Power is exploring initial opportunities in Malaysia. However, these initiatives are still at a very early stage. Financially, the company has recently strengthened its position. An oversubscribed private placement raised a total of CAD 3.86 million in two tranches. These are good conditions, then, for the many nascent projects to ultimately become power plants and for the development rights to be converted into robust power purchase agreements.
PFISTERER: At the High-Voltage Bottleneck
Once electricity has been generated, it must also reach the places where it is needed. Hardly anyone knows this bottleneck better than PFISTERER. The company, based in Winterbach near Stuttgart, manufactures the technology used to insulate and connect electrical conductors at the interfaces of power grids—from generation through transmission to distribution. Unlike the major cable manufacturers Prysmian or Nexans—which are themselves among PFISTERER’s customers—the company has deliberately positioned itself as manufacturer-independent. With 1,500 employees, 5 factories, and 17 locations in 15 countries, PFISTERER is present wherever grids need to be modernized or expanded. This structural tailwind is not a short-term phenomenon. In many places, Germany’s power grids still date back to the postwar era, while in the US, numerous overhead lines from the 1960s and 1970s regularly cause outages. Both regions are therefore investing heavily in grid renewal. In Germany, the Südlink route, designed to carry electricity generated by North Sea wind farms to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, adds another multi-billion-euro icing on the cake.
In Swabia, too, there are no restrictions: it does not matter how the electricity is generated. “Whether nuclear, solar, or offshore wind farms, we offer connection solutions for everything—on land, at sea, or in the air,” explains Johannes Linden, spokesperson for the Executive Board. In other words: it does not matter whether the lines are buried underground or, more cost-effectively, routed over high-voltage transmission towers. Speaking of high voltage—that is PFISTERER’s core competency par excellence. At the company’s in-house test center, joints, insulators, screw connectors, and cable terminations can be put through their paces at voltages of up to 1 million volts. “The higher the voltage, the less competition, the higher the margin,” reveals Co-CEO Konstantin Kurfiss. The fact that the standard is shifting further and further into the high-voltage range thus plays right into PFISTERER’s hands. The latest figures impressively confirm this trend. In the first half of 2026, consolidated revenue rose by 20.2% to EUR 256.7 million, while net income for the period jumped by 75.9% to EUR 38.3 million. The order backlog of EUR 340.3 million now extends well into 2027 and underscores the high degree of planning certainty. Despite this solid performance, the stock has struggled recently and is trading well below its annual high of EUR 114.
Dell: From PC Manufacturer to AI Equipment Provider
Ultimately, the question remains: what happens to the electricity once it reaches the data center?—and this is precisely where Dell Technologies plays a key role. The company has evolved from a traditional PC and laptop manufacturer into a central infrastructure provider driving the AI boom. With its PowerEdge server family, which is increasingly equipped with graphics processors from Nvidia, the US company is meeting the exploding demand for AI computing power. The offering is complemented by storage solutions, networking technology, and the APEX “as-a-service” model. In the past quarter, revenue from AI-optimized servers climbed by no less than 757% to USD 16.1 billion, while total revenue rose by 88% to USD 43.8 billion—significantly more than analysts had expected. The order backlog for AI servers rose to over USD 51 billion, giving the company an unusually high degree of planning certainty for the coming quarters.
This shift has long been reflected in the stock market. After a dry spell lasting about two years, Dell’s share price literally exploded between April and June and has since held steady above the USD 400 mark—a gain of over 240% since the beginning of the year. With an expected price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 23 for the coming year, the stock is no longer a bargain, but the market is finally pricing in what the company is actually delivering operationally. Just how quickly such a revaluation can turn sour is illustrated by a look at its former rival Super Micro Computer, which struggled with compliance and supply chain issues in 2026 and consequently lost market share to Dell. Dell’s next quarterly report is expected to be released on September 1, at which point we will see where the journey is headed.
It Does Not Always Have to Be the “Magnificent 7”
Three companies, three stages of the same story: without power, there is no data center; without the grid, there is no power where it is needed; and without hardware, there are no AI applications. This offers excellent opportunities for investors even beyond the “Magnificent 7.” After years of being overlooked, the market has now rediscovered Dell with full force, and its valuation appears reasonable. PFISTERER and NU E Power may still be waiting for their own moments of discovery—one with an established business and a solid balance sheet, the other with a promising portfolio that is still largely in development. Whether these opportunities can ultimately be realized will depend on tangible milestones: offtake agreements, grid connections, new projects, and signed contracts rather than letters of intent. All three companies are excellently positioned at a critical juncture to meet the energy demands of the AI era.
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