Monday, July 27, 2026

Equities were mixed on Friday — the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% to 738.93 while the Nasdaq-100 fell 1.12% to 684.23. The 524 AI infrastructure stocks we track underperformed, with 187 advancing against 335 decliners and an average move of -2.26%, a 2.36 percentage-point lag behind the broad market. The intelligence and observability segment held up best, gaining 1.01%, while compute and silicon bore the brunt, down 4.17%. Standout gainers included SLB (Slb N.V.) up 11.0% and DLR (Digital Realty Trust, Inc.) also up 11.0%; the sharpest drop came from MXL (MaxLinear, Inc.), down 21.5%. On the earnings front, CLS (Celestica Inc.), APLD (Applied Digital Corp.), and CDNS (Cadence Design Systems, Inc.) report today; heavyweights AMZN (Amazon.com, Inc.), ARM (Arm Holdings), LRCX (Lam Research), STX (Seagate Technology), and VRT (Vertiv Holdings Co) are on deck later this week.

BKR (Baker Hughes Co) reported Q2 results after the close on Friday. EPS came in at $0.64, comfortably above the $0.49 consensus. The company also announced a major LNG technology order for Venture Global’s CP2 LNG expansion.

NAVER, NVDA (NVIDIA Corporation), and BAM ([Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.)](/company/BAM) announced a joint expansion of Korea’s National AI Factory infrastructure, scaling GPU-powered compute capacity for domestic AI workloads. The project pairs Brookfield’s infrastructure investment platform with NVIDIA’s accelerated computing stack, with NAVER as the local operator. It adds to a string of sovereign AI builds across Asia and signals that large-scale capital deployment into Asia-Pacific data center markets continues to accelerate.

LIN (Linde plc) announced an expansion of renewable energy sourcing across its EMEA and APAC regions. The move reduces the carbon intensity of its industrial gas production — a key input for semiconductor fabrication. As chipmakers face increasingly stringent net-zero targets, Linde’s ability to offer lower-carbon gas supply could strengthen its competitive position in securing long-term contracts with leading foundries and logic manufacturers.

NNE (Nano Nuclear Energy Inc.) was selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase I award to advance its KRONOS MMR microreactor for the U.S. Air Force. The award provides early validation for the company’s advanced nuclear microreactor design, which targets remote and off-grid power applications. While still at a nascent stage, the technology aims to deliver firm, carbon-free power — a profile that could eventually attract data center operators exploring on-site nuclear generation.

CLS and APLD report today, offering two different lenses on data center demand. Celestica’s role in server and networking contract manufacturing makes it a direct read on hardware deployment volumes for hyperscale AI clusters. Applied Digital’s update will provide granular detail on data center hosting capacity, power procurement, and the pace at which new sites are being brought online.

ARM and LRCX headline Wednesday’s calendar. AMZN reports Thursday, and its AWS capex commentary is a critical input for gauging the trajectory of hyperscale infrastructure spending. Arm’s licensing and royalty trends will reflect the breadth of Arm-based custom silicon adoption across the cloud. Lam Research’s print will speak to wafer fab equipment demand, particularly in memory and advanced logic, where AI-driven expansions are concentrated.

STX reports Tuesday, and its read on mass-capacity storage demand will be a useful check on the data-lake buildout fueling AI training. A robust nearline HDD environment would reinforce the thesis that storage infrastructure is scaling in tandem with compute.