Hyperscalers’ AI buildout will require massive amounts of energy. Two under-the-radar stocks will benefit
Publish Date: 2026-05-13 08:50:00
Source Domain: www.cnbc.com
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POWER POINT
What I’m hearing from energy insiders
Hyperfocused on hyperscaler hypergrowth.
I tried to sum up investor thinking into just one sentence. The pace of spending on A.I. is so frenetic it makes the Energizer Bunny look lazy. That growth is coming from the “hyperscalers,” just a fancy term for the big technology companies that are rapidly ramping their bets on artificial intelligence.
This energy-related weekly intelligence piece is about artificial intelligence because – in this author’s reasonably humble opinion – there isn’t an A.I. story without energy. A.I. requires massive amounts of computational power – “compute” – and compute requires massive amounts of electricity. In other words – and say it with me – A.I. is power. Literally.
As long as the A.I. spend story steams along, it seems logical that the investment in energy will steam with it. Now that we are coming out of another earnings cycle, three things remain clear:
1. Energy earnings remain super strong
2. Capital spending related to A.I. is a big part of that story
3. See #s 1 and 2
As the team at BNP Paribas puts it:
“AI Hyperscalers capex continues to be revised higher. Following issuers’ guidance at 1Q earnings season, estimates for 2026 capex are now $725bn, this has nearly doubled since mid-2025. Capex is rising faster than OCF [operating cash flow], driving funding needs. “
The numbers are hard to fathom. BNP Paribas highlights that consensus estimates for capital spending were for ‘just’ $365bn one year ago, which means this year’s capex estimate of $725 billion is nearly double last year’s estimate.
When was the last time you saw a major estimate nearly double in a year?
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Let’s put that $725 billion in A.I. related spending growth into perspective.
$725 billion is more than the…
