12 small caps that could benefit from the AI buildout
Power plants, worker housing, liquid cooling, turbine gears. Twelve companies worth under $2.5 billion, each with signed business tied to the AI buildout.
The buildout doesn't just need chips. It needs boilers, beds, gearboxes, and switchgear, and many of the companies that make them are still small.
The Buildout · September 23, 2026 · Not investment advice
Everyone owns the giants. The companies below sit further down the chain: they house the construction crews, build the power plants next to the data centers, and machine the parts inside the turbines and cooling systems. At this size, one new contract can change how big the company is.
Each profile follows the same frame: what the company does, why it matters right now, how big the AI piece really is, what management said last, what could move the stock, and the risks. Numbers marked reported have happened. Forecasts and goals are labeled as forecasts and goals.
The twelve at a glance
Sorted by market valuePrices as of Sep 21, 2026 close“This year” is from Dec 31, 2025
They make the filters that clean the electricity before it reaches AI computers.
Market valueValue$1.86B
This year+103%
Past 12 months12 months+135%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piece$57.1M in data center sales over the past year (reported), growing 69% · about 10% of the company
The whole company~$575M in sales over the past year (reported) · worth $1.86B on the stock market
Data center sales (Q2)
$16.3M, up 60% in a year
New orders (Q2)
$201.3M, a record
Orders waiting to ship
$298M
Orders vs. shipments
$1.31 of new orders for every $1 shipped
Price tag
~25x a year's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Allient makes the small precision parts that make machines move: electric motors, the controllers that tell them what to do, and the sensors that track exactly where they are. You'll find them in factory robots, medical equipment, military hardware, and vehicles. Inside that business is a smaller line, called Allient Power, that does a different job: it cleans up electricity.
Why it's critical right now
Electricity from the grid is supposed to arrive as a smooth, even wave. AI servers don't draw power smoothly. They take it in sharp, choppy gulps, and all those gulps together bend the wave out of shape. Engineers call that "harmonics"; everyone else would call it dirty power. Dirty power makes transformers and cables run hot, trips equipment, and breaks the rules utilities set for what a building can push back onto the grid. Allient sells the fix: filters and chokes (called line reactors) that sit on the power line and smooth the wave back out, like a water filter on a tap. The more AI racks a building packs in, the dirtier the power gets and the more filtering it needs.
How the business is doing
Data center sales were $16.3M last quarter, 60% more than a year ago, and $57.1M over the past twelve months. That's now about 10% of the company. Management put a price on it: a single filter part works out to "a couple of thousand dollars per megawatt" of data center, and a complete package runs "over $40,000 per megawatt." A 1-gigawatt AI campus is 1,000 megawatts. Across the whole company, new orders hit a record $201.3M, and $1.31 of fresh orders came in for every $1 of product shipped, so the pile of work waiting grew to $298M. Profit margins are at their best in about a decade.
What was said on the last call
CEO Richard Warzala said data center orders are growing in line with sales and the strength is carrying into the next quarter: "Order intake is strong and shipments remained strong as well." Management plans to share more data center numbers going forward, and suggested it hopes to supply more of the equipment in each new building.
What moves the stock
New factory capacity for data center products comes online around late Q3 or early Q4 2026. The next earnings report, expected in early November, will show whether record orders turn into shipments. In October, Allient launches a line of motors for military drones.
They make the ovens that solder AI chips into their packages before those packages go into AI servers.
Market valueValue$262M
This year+19%
Past 12 months12 months+66%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI pieceAI-related oven sales up about 120% in a year (reported), now over 40% of the oven business, up from about 30% a year ago (reported) → roughly $7M of last quarter's sales (our estimate)
The whole company$81.7M in sales over the past year (reported) · worth $262M on the stock market
Total sales last quarter
$22.4M, up 14% in a year (the oven division alone: ~$17.7M, up ~25%)
AI share of oven sales
over 40%, up from about 30% a year ago
New orders vs. shipments
$1.40 of new orders for every $1 shipped, a third straight quarter above $1
Price tag
roughly 1.8x a year's sales (analyst estimate)
Next quarter's forecast
$22.5-24M in sales
What they do
Amtech makes two kinds of machines. The bigger and growing one, called Thermal Processing Solutions, builds conveyor ovens that heat chips just enough to melt solder and bond them permanently onto circuit boards and into their outer packages, without cooking the chip itself. The smaller and shrinking one polishes and cleans silicon wafers, mostly for the power chips used in electric vehicles and industrial equipment made from silicon carbide, a tougher material than standard silicon.
Why it's critical right now
Before an AI chip like a GPU can go into a server, it has to be soldered into an advanced package, and that packaging step is jammed. TSMC has said packaging capacity is "so tight that now it's limiting my customers' growth," and two of the big assembly companies, ASE and Amkor, are both spending more to add capacity. Amtech's ovens are one of the machines that do the soldering in that step. Management says the equipment works across every hyperscaler's chips and package types, and one brand-new customer making AI cooling parts is "building their process around" Amtech's ovens.
How the business is doing
Sales last quarter were $22.4M, up 14% from a year earlier and at the top of what management had guided. Within that, oven sales tied to AI grew about 120% in a year and now make up over 40% of that division, up from roughly 30% a year ago. Gross margin reached 50%. New orders have now outpaced shipments for three quarters in a row, at a rate of $1.40 of new orders for every $1 shipped, and the resulting pile of orders waiting to ship stretches into two future quarters. The company has $83.1M in cash and no debt, after raising $56.5M by selling new shares.
What was said on the last call
CEO Bob Daigle called AI-related oven sales "very strong, up by approximately 120% from the prior year period," and said new orders exceeding shipments "approached 1.4" for a "third consecutive quarter." On the wafer-polishing side tied to silicon carbide, he was blunt: "I don't really envision a meaningful recovery... it's really de minimis at this point." Asked whether the AI business depends on any one big customer, management said equipment sales don't matter "which hyperscaler" buys them and are "not necessarily specific to any one player or customer."
What moves the stock
A major chip-equipment trade show in Taiwan in early September 2026, where Amtech was set to show a new higher-density packaging oven meant to expand what it can sell into; feedback on orders is expected on the next earnings call. The next earnings report, due around December, will show whether new orders keep beating shipments for a fourth straight quarter. Also open: what the company does with the $56.5M it just raised, which it has flagged for possible acquisitions, and an authorized $5 million stock buyback it hasn't used yet.
They build the power plants that sit right next to a data center and feed it electricity directly.
Market valueValue$1.1B
This year+16%
Past 12 months12 months+150%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI pieceabout a quarter of first-half 2026 sales, $131.7M (reported), came from one project, a power plant being built for Applied Digital's data center · the company doesn't break out a separate AI sales line
The whole company$844.1M in sales over the past year (reported) · worth $1.1B on the stock market
Q2 sales
$319.7M, up 130% in a year
Orders waiting to ship
$2.6B
Deals lined up to bid on
more than $14B
New orders (first half of 2026)
$2.7B
Price tag
~1.3x a year's sales, or ~12x this year's expected EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Babcock & Wilcox has been building industrial boilers and power equipment for almost 160 years. It makes the big steam boilers and steam turbines that turn fuel into electricity, and it builds and services complete power plants. It also keeps older coal and gas plants running with repair parts and maintenance.
Why it's critical right now
AI data centers need enormous amounts of electricity, often more than the local power grid can supply on time. B&W's answer is to build a power plant right next to the data center, so it doesn't have to wait in line for the grid. Its newest design installs the boiler and steam turbine first, then adds a gas turbine later on the same plot of land, which can double the plant's output, from 1 gigawatt to 2 gigawatts, without needing more space. Management says this gets power flowing "3 to 5 years faster" than a standard plant. B&W is also one of the few companies still able to build new coal-fired plants, not just gas ones. Its flagship customer is Applied Digital, which owns roughly a 10% stake in the power project B&W is building for it, called Base Electron, a sign the customer has its own money riding on the plant getting built.
How the business is doing
Sales jumped 130% last quarter to $319.7M, largely because of that Applied Digital project. The pile of signed work waiting to be completed grew to $2.6B, more than six times what it was a year ago, and the company says it has over $14B of potential deals it's chasing. But the pace of brand-new orders slowed sharply in the most recent quarter: new orders in the first three months of 2026 alone were about $2.5B, while the whole first half only added up to $2.7B, meaning very little came in during the second quarter. The company has also cleaned up its finances, paying off its remaining 2026 bonds and announcing a plan to buy back $50M of its own stock. On September 10, it announced a new $130M contract, a sign its pipeline of deals is starting to turn into real orders beyond just the flagship project.
What was said on the last call
Management raised its full-year profit forecast to $80-105M and said the Applied Digital project is "progressing ahead of expectations and on budget." The company has reserved a full gigawatt's worth of steam turbines, twenty of them, from Siemens Energy for a second, not-yet-signed data center project. The CEO said: "We don't see an end to the power generation demands coming from AI and data centers."
What moves the stock
Whether that second data center project gets a signed go-ahead before the end of the year. Whether the new $130M contract keeps growing. Whether the company can convert its $14B pipeline of potential deals into firm, signed orders. And whether the second half delivers the $42-67M of EBITDA the raised forecast implies, up from $37.8M in the first half.
They make the precision gears and machined parts inside the natural-gas turbines that power AI data centers.
Market valueValue$100M
This year+52%
Past 12 months12 months+106%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piecemanagement says 30-40% of Gearing's sales is power-generation equipment (reported), and that AI demand within that is "significant" — but it has declined to say how much · Industrial Solutions' AI-linked share is not disclosed
The whole company$140.3M in sales over the past year (reported, but that figure still includes the old wind-tower business Broadwind is exiting) · worth $100M on the stock market
Gearing new orders
up 138% in a year
Orders waiting to ship (Gearing + Industrial Solutions)
up 93% in a year
New orders vs. shipments
$1.50 of new orders for every $1 shipped
Price tag
about 70 cents of company value for every $1 of last year's sales
2026 sales forecast
pulled back, not yet reissued
What they do
Broadwind used to make the giant steel towers wind turbines sit on. It sold that factory in April 2026 and is finishing its last wind-tower orders this quarter. What's left is two smaller businesses: Gearing, which builds custom gearboxes and fast-spinning reduction gears mainly for natural-gas turbines, and Industrial Solutions, which sources parts and fabricates components, mostly for the big gas turbines power plants use.
Why it's critical right now
AI data centers need huge amounts of power fast, faster than utilities can add to the grid. The quickest fix is natural-gas turbines, and the companies that build them say they're sold out for years. Broadwind doesn't sell to data centers directly. It sells the gears and machined parts inside the gas turbines those turbine makers are racing to build, including for GE Vernova, whose gas-turbine orders and data-center-driven demand have been climbing fast. Think of Broadwind as a parts supplier two steps back from the AI buildout: not the power plant, but a piece inside the machine that makes the power plant run.
How the business is doing
New orders are surging. Gearing orders were up 138% in a year, and its pile of orders waiting to ship has grown for four straight quarters. Industrial Solutions set records for both new orders and orders waiting to ship. Together, new orders came in at $1.50 for every $1 shipped last quarter, and the combined pile of orders waiting to ship is up 93% from a year ago. Revenue from the ongoing businesses, not counting the wind-down, rose 67% last quarter. But the company's full-year sales forecast, previously confirmed, was pulled when it sold the wind-tower plant, and no new number has replaced it.
What was said on the last call
CEO Eric Blashford said the order trends "may reflect the early stages of a sustained multiyear investment cycle" tied to "accelerating load growth from AI data centers." Finishing the wind exit comes first, he said, before a new forecast returns: "that would be the first kind of domino to fall before we would be putting back... guidance out there." CFO Tom Ciccone warned Industrial Solutions' unusually high recent margin will "adjust down to more typical levels moving forward."
What moves the stock
Third-quarter results, expected around November 2026, when the wind-tower exit finishes and a new sales forecast could return. A search for a bolt-on acquisition in power generation, critical infrastructure, grid hardening, defense, or aerospace. Progress toward a defense-manufacturing security certification, due "later this year." A promised year-by-year breakdown of orders waiting to ship, only partly delivered so far.
They're the metal shop that builds the power cabinets inside AI data centers.
Market valueValue$358M
This year-9%
Past 12 months12 months+19%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piecedata-center power work is now about 20% of the company (company forecast), or roughly $125-130M of this year's expected sales (our estimate) · up about 173% in a year last quarter (reported)
The whole company$620-650M in sales expected this year (company forecast) · worth $358M on the stock market
Last quarter's sales
$163.0M, up 23% in a year
Data-center work growth
almost tripled in a year
This year's sales forecast
$620-650M, raised twice
Future work in the pipeline
over $125M
Price tag
~9x this year's expected EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Mayville Engineering runs 27 metal shops around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They cut, bend, and paint sheet metal into finished parts for other companies to bolt together. For decades that meant parts for trucks, farm equipment, construction machines, and powersports vehicles like snowmobiles and ATVs. After buying a company called Accu-Fab in 2025, they added a new line of work: building power equipment for data centers.
Why it's critical right now
A data center needs big metal cabinets to route electricity safely around the building, similar to the breaker box in a house but built for megawatts instead of a few dozen amps. Those cabinets, called switchgear and power distribution units, have to be precisely cut and welded before the electrical parts go inside. MEC builds the metal cabinets, not the electronics inside them. Management says it's currently selling to less than 1 in 20 of the plants run by its ten biggest data-center customers, which is why it expects this business to keep growing: "Our penetration at this point... is sub-5%, hence my optimism for the industry." The bet is that data-center equipment makers start outsourcing their metalwork the way truck and tractor makers did decades ago.
How the business is doing
Sales grew 23% in a year to $163.0M last quarter, beating the company's own forecast. The data-center part of the business nearly tripled year-over-year. Management raised its full-year sales forecast twice, now $620-650M, but held its profit forecast flat and cut its cash forecast by more than half, to $7-15M from $25-35M, because it's spending more to add capacity. The company lost $2.1M on paper last quarter. In May it sold new stock to strengthen its balance sheet, which brought debt down relative to earnings from 4.4 times to 2.9 times.
What was said on the last call
Management said it is going back to data-center customers to raise prices on programs it already won: "That will push our mix and margin up for the future." It's also turning down smaller jobs because its plants are full: "We have had to say no to some small programs." On running out of room to grow: "We're going to run out of footprint... Is it '28? Is it late 2027?"
What moves the stock
The next earnings report, expected in early November, is guided to $160-170M in sales and will show whether profit margins are finally turning up. A decision on a new Southeast U.S. plant is expected by late 2026, a $25-30M investment meant to add $50-60M of yearly sales capacity. The interest rate on its loans stepped down in August. New truck-parts revenue tied to upcoming emissions rules could start showing up late in the fourth quarter.
They make the thick metal bars that carry power to AI server racks.
Market valueValue$476M
This year+102%
Past 12 months12 months+67%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piece~$80M in data center sales this fiscal year (reported) → ~$130M target next fiscal year (company forecast) · about 12% of the company (our estimate)
The whole company$1.025-1.075B in sales expected this fiscal year (company forecast) · worth $476M on the stock market
Data center sales (FY2026)
~$80M, targeting ~$130M next year
Q1 FY2027 sales
$265.4M, up 10.4%
FY2027 sales goal
$1.025-1.075B
FY2027 profit goal
$72-82M
Price tag
~11x a year's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Methode makes power and electronic parts: thick metal bars that carry electricity (called busbars), connectors, sensors, and lighting. It sells mostly to carmakers and factories, split into three pieces: Automotive, Industrial (where the data-center business sits), and a small third piece being shut down.
Why it's critical right now
An AI server rack needs a lot of power routed from the wall to every chip inside it. Methode has supplied the metal bars that carry that power through data-center racks for more than 30 years: "right now, it is just all bus bars," in management's words. Think of a busbar as a heavy-duty metal power rail, standing in for the wires you'd use at home. The bigger change is in the relationship, not the part: Methode says it used to be a backup supplier just building exactly what a customer designed, and is now moving to a standing, year-long ordering relationship where it keeps inventory ready for hyperscalers on demand. That's a step toward being a chosen partner instead of an occasional vendor. Separately, Methode is developing a new higher-voltage power system (800 volts, built using safety know-how from cars) for future AI racks, but none of that is booked yet.
How the business is doing
Sales in the quarter that ended in the summer rose 10.4% to $265.4M, led by data centers. The Industrial segment, which includes data centers, grew 27% with profit up 19%. Automotive was roughly flat, still losing money but less than before. Cash profit for the quarter dipped to $13.7M from $15.7M; management says that's a one-time hit, and profit actually improved once you strip it out. The company kept its full-year sales and profit targets unchanged. Cash flow went negative for the quarter because Methode is building up inventory on purpose, and its debt rose.
What was said on the last call
CFO Laura Kowalchik said the profit dip "represented a positive $4.7 million impact on a net basis, reflecting genuine underlying progress" once the one-time item is set aside. CEO Jonathan DeGaynor was clear that a separate $75M order book Methode just won is "not in data centers... commercial vehicle and automotive power applications." On the new 800-volt system, he said "none of it is in our guidance because it is not on the market, and we do not have any business awards" yet. He also pointed to profit margins in Mexico up more than 5 percentage points without much new revenue to explain it.
What moves the stock
An Investor Day on December 17. A test version of the 800-volt system, expected later this fiscal year, which management hopes turns into real customer orders. Whether sales pick up in the second half of the fiscal year, as the guidance assumes. The new $75M order book doesn't start shipping until late next fiscal year or after. Truck and heavy-vehicle demand could also recover later in 2026.
They buy and resell the memory chips that AI computers can't get enough of, and they also collect royalty checks because their older patents cover pieces of today's most advanced memory chips.
Market valueValue$1.7B
This year+477%
Past 12 months12 months+514%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piecethe Samsung license deal alone is worth $239M upfront plus up to $32.9M a quarter through 2031 (reported) — that money is directly tied to AI memory patents; the much larger resale business isn't broken out between AI and non-AI customers, so its AI share can't be sized
The whole company$214.7M in sales in the first half of 2026 (reported) · worth $1,700M on the stock market
Q2 sales
$109.8M, up 163% in a year
First-half sales
$214.7M, almost triple last year
Samsung deal
$239M upfront, plus up to $32.9M every quarter through 2031
Cash on hand
$40.7M, "minimal debt"
Price tag
~59x a year's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Netlist buys memory chips (DRAM) from big manufacturers and resells them to companies those manufacturers skip — makers of storage boxes, servers, and cloud data centers. It also sells a small line of its own memory products. Separately, it owns older patents covering how today's fastest memory works, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM, chips stacked right next to an AI chip so data moves faster) and DDR5 (the standard memory chip in servers), and makes money by licensing those patents or suing companies that use them without paying.
Why it's critical right now
AI computers need huge amounts of fast memory, and makers can't produce enough, so prices have spiked — Netlist profits reselling into that shortage. On the patent side, juries already ruled Samsung ($303M) and Micron ($445M) used Netlist's designs without paying; both are under appeal. In August 2026, Samsung flipped from opponent to partner: a five-year deal pays Netlist $239M upfront plus up to $32.9M a quarter through 2031, lets Netlist buy up to $300M a year of Samsung memory, and had Samsung buy 10 million Netlist shares. Days later, Netlist sued Micron and computer makers Supermicro, HPE, and Lenovo, trying to block their products from entering the US — a case that could also touch Google, NVIDIA, and Broadcom, named as customers in the earlier fight.
How the business is doing
Sales hit $109.8M last quarter, up 163% from a year earlier, and $214.7M for the first half, nearly triple last year's pace. Management says 80% to 96% of that is low-margin resale riding the shortage; its own-brand products are "double digits millions" of the roughly $110M quarterly base. Cash on hand was $40.7M with "minimal debt." One flag: profit from running the business dropped to $1.3M last quarter from $8.6M the quarter before, even as sales rose — an unexplained jump in costs.
What was said on the last call
CFO Gail Sasaki said: "we currently expect third quarter product revenue to be similar to the second quarter of 2026." CEO Chuck Hong said the patents cover "new generation of DDR5 and HBM technologies that are foundational to AI computing," and that Netlist intends to "enforce our patent rights against a number of other parties that are unlicensed." Only one analyst asked a question on the call.
What moves the stock
A federal appeals court heard arguments on Micron's $445M verdict appeal on September 9, with a ruling pending. A hearing in the original Samsung trade case had been set for late November, but it's unclear whether it still goes ahead now that the two companies have settled. Third-quarter results, due early November, are the first test of the flat guidance and the first to show Samsung's payments hitting the books. A separate contract dispute is expected to get a hearing "in the coming months."
They make the metal plumbing that carries coolant to AI chips so they don't overheat.
Market valueValue$277M
This year+162%
Past 12 months12 months+50%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piece$80M in data center and grid sales over the past year (reported) → $120M (management goal, no date) · about 17% of the company today (our estimate)
The whole company$470-490M in sales for 2026 (company forecast, raised Sep 22) · worth $277M on the stock market
Data center and grid sales
$80M over the past year, goal $120M
Q2 sales
$128.7M, up 19%
New contracts won this year
$80M through July, target $90-110M
2026 forecast
$470-490M in sales, raised three times
Price tag
~20x a year's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
NN is a precision metal shop. It cuts, stamps, and coats small metal parts to exact sizes, for cars, factory equipment, medical devices, defense electronics, and the power grid. It's the kind of company whose parts you never see but that other manufacturers can't build without.
Why it's critical right now
The newest AI chips run so hot that fans struggle to keep up. Data centers are switching to liquid cooling, which works like a car's radiator: coolant is pumped through a metal plate (a cold plate) that sits on top of each chip and carries the heat away. NN makes the pieces that liquid runs through. In management's words, they are "stainless steel connectors through which the coolant flows to the cold plates and cooling system inside the data center racks so chips do not overheat." It also coats the cold plates themselves and plates the thick metal bars (busbars) that carry power through the rack. The parts have to be perfectly leakproof, because liquid dripping onto a server can destroy it, so customers test and approve a supplier's parts before buying. In June, NN announced new awards for its NVIDIA liquid-cooled products business.
How the business is doing
Data center and grid sales reached $80M over the past twelve months, up from about $70M a quarter earlier, and management raised its near-term goal from $100M to $120M. Last quarter's sales rose 19% to $128.7M, and the division that makes grid, data center, and defense parts grew 40%. The full-year forecast has now been raised three times, most recently on September 22, to $470-490M in sales and $58-68M in adjusted EBITDA. In August, NN also refinanced expensive preferred stock that had hung over the company since a rough patch years ago, cutting its yearly interest bill by roughly $13M.
What was said on the last call
Management called AI "the biggest thing happening to our company." It has ordered about 50 machines dedicated to data center parts at its plant near Shanghai, and said that when they're running in November, sales there will go "over $1 million a month and keep building into Q1." One large data center customer offered "this huge amount of business" on the condition that NN work with nobody else. NN turned it down.
What moves the stock
November, when the 50 new machines are supposed to hit full speed. The October 28 earnings call, where management promised updated long-term profit targets. And whether NN finds the extra factory space it says it needs within 12 months for another 200 machines.
NUAINew Era Energy & Digital
Power Generation09 / 12
A helium driller turned landlord-and-power-broker for a giant AI data center campus in West Texas.
Market valueValue$815M
This year+161%
Past 12 months12 months+1306%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piece$0 in data center revenue so far (reported) — the campus is still being built, with room planned for up to ~757 megawatts once finished (company plan)
The whole company$36K in old helium-drilling sales last quarter (reported), a business being wound down · worth $815M on the stock market
Campus size
493 acres, planned for up to ~757 megawatts
Power deal
20-year contract for up to 207 megawatts, starting Q3 2027
Cash on hand
$84.8M plus $270M more it can still borrow
Old business (Q2 sales)
$36K, almost nothing left
New business revenue so far
$0, still in development
What they do
New Era Energy & Digital used to drill for helium gas in West Texas, under the name New Era Helium. It's now turning itself into a landlord and power broker for AI data centers. It owns 493 acres outside Odessa, Texas, called Texas Critical Data Centers, and its job is to line up the land, permits, and electricity so an AI company can move in and start running computers. In January 2026 it paid its partner $70M to take full ownership of the project.
Why it's critical right now
AI companies increasingly say the real bottleneck in building new data centers isn't chips, it's electricity. Hooking up to the power grid the normal way can take years of waiting in line. New Era's plan skips that line: build the data center site right next to a power plant that already exists, and buy the electricity straight from it. On September 21, 2026, it signed a 20-year deal to buy up to 207 megawatts from the gas plant next door, owned by Luminant, part of Vistra. CEO Charlie Nelson called the deal a milestone that "materially reduces Phase 1 development risk."
How the business is doing
The old helium business is nearly gone: $36,497 in sales last quarter, down 83% from a year earlier. The data center campus hasn't earned a dollar yet, it's still in development. New Era held $84.8M in cash at the end of June, plus $270M still available to borrow from a $290M credit line with Macquarie, after retiring a $50M convertible note and a smaller promissory note. It lost $20.4M last quarter and $31.3M over the first half of the year. Its first-quarter numbers had to be corrected in July after an accounting error.
What was said on the last call
CFO Ted Warner said the company held "$84.8 million of cash equivalents, and restricted cash," with "$270 million remaining undrawn" on its credit line. CEO Charlie Nelson said New Era had gone from "a very good site" to "a very good site and a team that's built this before." Warner called getting power ready by late 2027 "definitely still achievable."
What moves the stock
Electricity from the Vistra power deal is due to start flowing in the third quarter of 2027, so the start of work on-site is the next thing to watch. The company still needs to set up a required $100M stock-sale program tied to its credit line. The biggest catalyst would be an actual signed tenant, an AI company agreeing to rent space or buy computing power on the campus. Management says prospective tenants are in talks, but none has been named yet.
They supply the parts, and some of the heavy equipment, used by companies building power gear for AI data centers.
Market valueValue$660M
This year+118%
Past 12 months12 months+112%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI piece~$150M a year in electrical and data-center sales (reported), growing over 10% a year · about 9% of the company (our estimate)
The whole company~$1.65B in sales over the past year (our estimate), forecast raised Aug 5 · worth $660M on the stock market
Sales last quarter
$440.1M, up 10% in a year
Orders waiting to ship (big equipment unit)
$252M, up 29% in a year
Electrical & data-center sales
~$150M a year, growing over 10% a year
2026 sales forecast
raised Aug 5 from $1.675B-$1.710B (new figures not yet disclosed)
Price tag
~11x a year's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation)
What they do
Park-Ohio is really three businesses bolted together. Supply Technologies is a hardware supplier: it runs the parts room for other factories, keeping them stocked with fasteners and small hardware so the customer's line never runs out of screws. Assembly Components builds fuel and fluid-handling parts, mostly for cars. Engineered Products makes big industrial equipment like induction furnaces, forging presses, transformers, and power generators.
Why it's critical right now
The companies that make switchgear and other electrical equipment for data centers are themselves customers of Park-Ohio's hardware business, buying the fasteners and small parts they need to keep building. Separately, Engineered Products sells transformers, generators, and forged metal parts to the companies that build the turbines and generators that power those data centers. Management says this combined electrical and data-center business "starts at about $150 million and continues to grow north of 10% per year," and that it barely existed three years ago. Eaton, GE Vernova, and ABB show up as likely (not confirmed) customers in this chain — their own data-center order books are surging, which could pull more business toward Park-Ohio, though that link isn't documented.
How the business is doing
Growth is picking up: sales grew 4% in the first quarter of the year and 10% in the second, reaching $440.1M, with $32.9M in EBITDA that quarter — both the best in two years. The big-equipment unit's pile of orders waiting to ship hit a record $252M at the end of June, up 29% from a year earlier. Management raised its full-year sales forecast on August 5, after what it called "record second quarter revenues." The earlier forecast was $1.675B-$1.710B; the new figures haven't been published in full yet. The company still carries a lot of debt for its size: about 5.5 times a year's EBITDA, versus a target of 3 times.
What was said on the last call
The CEO said: "I'm pleased with the momentum which is building across our business," and called the car-parts unit's profit potential "really teed up." Management also announced a formal sale review of one small unit, Southwest Steel Processing, which is expected to lose money this year — a sale would remove roughly $0.53 a share of losses, and management has said proceeds would likely go toward debt, without committing to it. On the bigger picture, management said: "We're at the beginning of that journey, not the end."
What moves the stock
Whether the review of that money-losing unit ends in a sale. The updated full-year numbers and the next earnings call, usually in early November. A new distribution center coming online later this year. And roughly $40M of new car-parts business starting in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.
They build and run instant towns that house the construction crews putting up America's data centers.
Market valueValue$2.1B
This year+167%
Past 12 months12 months+147%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI pieceWorkforce housing, the part of the business tied to data centers and power plants, was about $36M last quarter (reported), up 142% in a year, and is now expected to be over half the company's sales this year (company forecast)
The whole company$410-420M in sales guided for 2026 (company forecast, raised again Aug 26 to roughly $440M at the midpoint) · worth $2.1B on the stock market
Q2 sales
$85.5M, up 39% in a year
Data-center-linked sales (WHS)
up 142% in a year
Beds under contract
>9,000
Possible new beds in the pipeline
>20,000
Price tag
~6x a year's sales
What they do
Target Hospitality builds and runs turnkey towns for people who have to work in the middle of nowhere: prefab bedrooms, a cafeteria, a gym, laundry, trucked in and set up fast, then run like a small hotel chain for as long as the crew needs it. It has 16,991 beds across 29 communities today. A newer, faster-growing piece, called Workforce Housing Solutions, builds these towns specifically for the crews putting up data centers and the power plants that feed them.
Why it's critical right now
Data centers are increasingly built in remote spots, partly because nobody wants a giant AI building in their backyard. But remote sites have no hotels and no apartments for thousands of construction workers. Without beds, the project stalls. Target Hospitality shows up before the concrete is poured and puts a town there. The CEO put it simply: "Workforce housing is as critical as the fiber in the ground." The company has signed over $1.4 billion in multiyear contracts since January 2026 (reported), and on August 26 a top-five AI computing company signed a $250 million deal directly with Target Hospitality for a community of about 1,100 beds in West Texas.
How the business is doing
Sales were $85.5 million last quarter, up 39% from a year earlier. The data-center-linked segment more than doubled, up 142%, and now houses over 4,000 people on an average night, on its way to the more than 9,000 beds already under contract. Management has raised its 2026 sales forecast twice in one quarter: to $410-420 million in August, then again after the August 26 hyperscaler deal, to roughly $440 million at the midpoint, and set a longer-term goal of passing $700 million in yearly sales and $260 million in yearly EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation) by the end of 2027, a target built only on contracts already signed. Customers are also helping fund the build: more than $100 million in advance payments has come in this year, and the company's borrowing room has been quadrupled to $660 million.
What was said on the last call
Management upgraded its language on new business, moving from "advanced discussions" to "finalizing multiple definitive agreements," describing incoming projects as "1,000-plus beds, right, each." Asked about competitors, management said most are regional or private-equity owned and "it's not as great as what you might think," pointing instead to its own pre-secured supply of building units, "we've locked up enough line time," as the real edge. On pricing: "When I talk supply and demand, it absolutely helps on maximizing your price."
What moves the stock
Whether "finalizing multiple definitive agreements" keeps turning into signed contracts like the August hyperscaler deal. Whether the number of people housed keeps climbing from just over 4,000 toward the more than 9,000 beds already under contract, and eventually toward the 20,000-bed pipeline. The next earnings call, likely early November, will show how the build is tracking.
They buy old buildings with the power already hooked up and turn them into rental space for AI computers — like a landlord, except the tenants are racks of GPUs.
Market valueValue$690M
This year+28%
Past 12 months12 months-23%
Prices as of Sep 21, 2026 close
The AI pieceall of it. WhiteFiber doesn't have a separate AI division — renting out computing power to AI companies is the entire business.
The whole company$28.8M in sales last quarter (reported), with more than $1.4B in signed multiyear contracts still to be delivered (reported) · worth $690M on the stock market
Sales (Q2)
$28.8M, up 54% in a year
New cloud deals signed
over $540M
Biggest contract
$865M over 10 years
Cloud sales goal
over $200M a year once fully running
Price tag
~2.5x next year's expected sales
What they do
WhiteFiber buys and runs data centers — buildings full of computers — and rents out that computing power to AI companies that need it to train and run their models. It's a landlord, except instead of apartments it rents out racks of graphics chips. It runs high-reliability facilities (rated "Tier-3," meaning they're built with backups so they rarely lose power) in North Carolina, Montreal, and Iceland. A newer piece of the business lets customers pay for the hardware themselves while WhiteFiber installs and runs it for a fee, which management says behaves "more like a software offering than a hardware offering."
Why it's critical right now
AI companies need computing power faster than the big cloud providers can build it. WhiteFiber's shortcut is buying buildings that already have the electricity connected and converting them, which is much faster than building a data center from scratch. Its flagship site, NC1, is a former industrial building in North Carolina that can pull up to 99 megawatts from the local power company, Duke Energy — bought for $45M. WhiteFiber is an authorized NVIDIA partner and is getting early access to NVIDIA's newest chip generations, including ones most cloud providers can't get yet.
How the business is doing
Since the last earnings call, WhiteFiber has signed more than $540M in new multiyear rental deals with customers including Base 10, Prime Intellect, and a Paris-region client. NC1's biggest contract, an $865M, 10-year deal with Nscale, is now actively billing. Altogether, signed contracts add up to more than $1.4B still to be delivered over the coming years. Customers have paid $143M upfront, and the company raised $310M through a loan that can convert into stock later, giving it more cash than debt on hand.
What was said on the last call
CEO Sam Tabar said he expected NC1 to reach full billing by the end of August and called demand "extraordinary." He said WhiteFiber is finalizing a deal for a new site — about 60 megawatts in 2027, growing to over 250 megawatts. He acknowledged that lining up permanent financing for NC1 "has taken longer than we initially anticipated," but said the company is in exclusive talks with a group of lenders. A separate site purchase, starting at 60 megawatts and growing to 200, was announced August 17.
What moves the stock
Whether NC1's financing closes — that unlocks cash to fund the next building. New rental deals in Paris and with Base 10 coming online in late 2026. A new network linking WhiteFiber's separate buildings together at very high speed, which could let it combine several smaller sites into one giant virtual data center. And whether Prime Intellect's use of NVIDIA's newest chips in 2027 proves customers want that gear.
The common thread
Every company here has signed business, not just a story: orders, beds, and contracts that can be counted. The risk they share is the same too. If the big tech companies slow their spending on data centers, all twelve feel it. Watch their customers as closely as the companies themselves.
Disclaimer. The Buildout is a data and analytics platform in beta, built on agentic AI. Content may contain errors. Nothing here is investment advice. Do your own research.