Power
Electricity could be the new currency of AI. And the energy companies? They’re the quiet market makers.
One of the less-talked-about shifts in AI is how power hungry data centres are reshaping the grid. And the companies fuelling this new demand? They might just be the next market movers.
Data centres already consume 5% of U.S. electricity. By 2030, McKinsey expects they’ll drive up to 40% of all new demand. At this pace, they could chew through 1,600 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually by 2035. To put it in perspective, a single data centre can use 200–300 megawatts (MW) continuously – about the same as 1,000 Walmart ($WMT) stores.
Nuclear energy looks like the most viable solution. A single reactor produces roughly 8,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year. The catch? It takes a decade to build one. Enter Constellation Energy ($CEG) and GE Vernova ($GEV).
Constellation operates the largest nuclear fleet in the U.S., powering 10% of the country’s clean energy. It’s also locked in long-term supply deals with Microsoft ($MSFT) and Meta ($META) to keep their AI systems running 24/7.
GE Vernova plays a different role. It provides the turbines and smart grid tech that keep electricity flowing, whether from gas or renewables. In October, it expanded its power transformer capabilities with the US$5.28B acquisition of Prolec GE. Since its IPO in March 2024, $GEV shares have surged 300%.
Another name gaining attention: Oklo ($OKLO). Backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Oklo builds microreactors designed to deliver clean, continuous energy for off-grid AI centres. It plans multiple deployments across the U.S., and investors have taken notice – $OKLO shares are up 400% in 2025 alone.
Oklo is also working with Vertiv ($VRT) to manage the heat AI chips generate. Because powering AI is only half the challenge – cooling is just as critical. And Vertiv’s tech is leading the charge.
All up, energy could become the next big moat in AI. Chipmakers like NVIDIA ($NVDA) and AMD ($AMD) may be front and centre in the AI boom, but the real winners might be those keeping the lights and the GPUs on.
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