US AI Data Center

US AI Data Center is a thematic investing concept covering the U.S.-listed companies that build and run the physical home of AI: neocloud GPU-as-a-Service providers like CoreWeave and Nebius, AI data-center operators like IREN and Applied Digital, Oracle’s AI cloud, and the equipment layer spanning Vertiv, Arista, Lumentum, Sandisk, and Celestica. Oracle alone holds a $638 billion backlog.

CategoryThematic / AI data center & cloud infrastructure (US)
Representative companies10
Related ETFTIGER US AI Data Center TOP4 Plus ETF (0142D0)
Last updated2026-06-11
Key takeaways
  • US AI Data Center groups the U.S.-listed companies that build and run the physical home of AI across three layers: neocloud GPU-as-a-Service providers, AI/HPC data-center operators, and the core equipment inside the halls, from power and cooling to networking, optics, servers, and storage.
  • The neocloud layer is scaling at triple-digit rates. CoreWeave grew Q1 2026 revenue 112% to $2.08 billion with a $99.4 billion revenue backlog, Nebius grew 684% to $399 million, and IREN is targeting $3.7 billion of annualized revenue by the end of 2026 on the back of a $9.7 billion Microsoft contract.
  • Oracle anchors the hyperscale end: its remaining performance obligations reached $638 billion in fiscal Q4 2026, up 363% year over year, driven by large AI contracts including the Stargate program with OpenAI, which targets 4.5 gigawatts of additional U.S. capacity.
  • Power and cooling are the bottleneck. The IEA projects global data-centre electricity use to more than double to about 945 TWh by 2030, and Vertiv, the power-and-thermal pure play, booked fourth-quarter 2025 organic orders up 252% with a $15.0 billion backlog.
  • Since December 9, 2025 the concept is investable in Korea through the TIGER US AI Data Center TOP4 Plus ETF (0142D0) from Mirae Asset Global Investments, which tracks the Akros index behind this concept at a 0.49% total annual fee.

What is the US AI data center concept?

It is the landlord-and-plumbing side of the AI boom, expressed as ten U.S.-listed stocks across three layers. The first layer rents the compute: CoreWeave and Nebius operate GPU clouds whose Q1 2026 revenue grew 112% and 684% respectively (CoreWeave, May 7, 2026; Nebius, May 13, 2026), while Oracle supplies AI infrastructure at hyperscale. The second layer builds and hosts: IREN and Applied Digital develop the powered, liquid-cooled campuses that GPU fleets live in. The third layer fills the halls: Vertiv’s power and cooling, Arista’s Ethernet switches, Lumentum’s lasers, Sandisk’s NAND storage, and Celestica’s AI servers and switches.

Why now? What is the AI data center capex supercycle?

Because AI demand has outrun the world’s installed data-center capacity, and the money chasing the gap is unprecedented. The four biggest hyperscalers plan roughly $700 billion of 2026 capital spending: Alphabet guided $180-190 billion (Q1 2026 call), Meta $125-145 billion (Meta, Apr 29, 2026), and Amazon about $200 billion (CNBC, Apr 29, 2026).

The clearest single number is Oracle’s order book. Remaining performance obligations ended fiscal Q4 2026 (May 31, 2026) at $638 billion, up 363% year over year, after growing $85 billion in the quarter, driven by large-scale AI contracts; cloud infrastructure revenue grew 93% to $5.8 billion in the same quarter (Oracle 8-K, Jun 10, 2026). Behind much of that sits the Stargate program with OpenAI and SoftBank, announced in January 2025 with an intent to invest $500 billion in 10 gigawatts of U.S. AI infrastructure (OpenAI, Jan 21, 2025); in July 2025 OpenAI and Oracle agreed to develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of Stargate capacity (OpenAI, Jul 22, 2025). On the Q4 call, Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk said the company plans to bring nearly a gigawatt of capacity online in the current quarter, about as much as it added in all of fiscal 2026 (Q4 2026 earnings call).

What is the neocloud boom?

A new class of cloud company, built around renting NVIDIA GPU clusters as a service, has become the fastest-growing layer of AI infrastructure. CoreWeave reported Q1 2026 revenue of $2.08 billion, up 112% year over year, with a $99.4 billion revenue backlog and more than 3.5 gigawatts of contracted power (CoreWeave, May 7, 2026). Its contracts with OpenAI alone total about $22.4 billion (CoreWeave, Sep 25, 2025). CEO Michael Intrator put the demand plainly:

“This was the strongest bookings quarter in CoreWeave’s history, with revenue backlog reaching nearly $100 billion.”

— Michael Intrator, co-founder and CEO, CoreWeave (CoreWeave, May 7, 2026)

The big clouds themselves are now the neoclouds’ largest customers. Microsoft signed an AI infrastructure contract with Nebius worth about $17.4 billion through 2031, expandable to $19.4 billion (Nebius 6-K, Sep 8, 2025), and a $9.7 billion, five-year GPU cloud contract with IREN, which is deploying NVIDIA GB300s at its 750 MW Childress, Texas campus (IREN, Nov 3, 2025). Meta committed up to $27 billion over five years to Nebius (Nebius Q1 2026 call). The landlords ride the same wave: Applied Digital’s Polaris Forge 1 campus carries roughly $11 billion of contracted CoreWeave leases across 400 MW (Applied Digital, Aug 29, 2025), and its fiscal Q3 2026 revenue rose 139% to $126.6 million (Applied Digital 8-K, Apr 8, 2026).

Why are power, cooling, and equipment the bottleneck?

Because a gigawatt of GPUs is useless without a gigawatt of delivered electricity and the thermal plant to remove it as heat. The IEA projects global data-centre electricity consumption to more than double from about 415 TWh in 2024 to around 945 TWh by 2030, with data centres on course to account for almost half of U.S. electricity-demand growth (IEA, Energy and AI). That scarcity shows up directly in equipment orders. Vertiv, which sells the switchgear, UPS, busways, and liquid cooling around the racks, booked fourth-quarter 2025 organic orders up 252% year over year with a ~2.9x book-to-bill and a $15.0 billion backlog (Vertiv 8-K, Feb 11, 2026), then grew Q1 2026 sales 30% to $2.65 billion and raised its full-year outlook (Vertiv 8-K, Apr 22, 2026).

The same pull runs through the rest of the stack. Arista raised its 2026 AI-networking revenue target to $3.5 billion, more than double the prior year (Arista, May 5, 2026). Lumentum, whose lasers light the optical links between GPUs, grew fiscal Q3 2026 revenue 90% to a record $808.4 million and still undershipped demand by more than 30% (Lumentum, May 5, 2026). Sandisk’s datacenter storage revenue more than tripled sequentially to $1.47 billion (Sandisk 8-K, Apr 30, 2026), and Celestica, which manufactures hyperscalers’ custom switches and AI servers, grew Q1 2026 revenue 53% to $4.05 billion and raised its 2026 outlook to $19.0 billion (Celestica, Apr 27, 2026).

Who should consider US AI data center exposure?

It suits an investor who wants the AI build-out at the layer where contracts, power, and concrete meet, and who can size for the volatility of young, capex-heavy companies. The revenue visibility is unusual for a thematic basket: Oracle’s $638 billion RPO (Oracle 8-K), CoreWeave’s $99.4 billion backlog (CoreWeave), and Microsoft’s contracts with Nebius ($17.4 billion) and IREN ($9.7 billion) are all disclosed, dated commitments (Nebius 6-K; IREN).

The trade-off is balance-sheet intensity. CoreWeave lost $740 million in Q1 2026 while guiding $31-35 billion of 2026 capex (CNBC, May 7, 2026), Nebius raised its 2026 capex plan to $20-25 billion (Nebius Q1 2026 call), and Oracle ran negative $23.7 billion of fiscal 2026 free cash flow (Oracle 8-K). For an individual investor that argues for a satellite position beside a diversified core; for an institution it works as a picks-and-shovels AI infrastructure sleeve whose credit and single-customer risks must be budgeted alongside the equity exposure.

Which companies represent US AI Data Center?

CompanySectorWhat it does
CoreWeave (CRWV) Information Technology · AI Cloud (GPU-as-a-Service) The flagship neocloud. CoreWeave rents NVIDIA GPU clusters to AI labs and hyperscalers, grew Q1 2026 revenue 112% to $2.08 billion, and ended the quarter with a $99.4 billion revenue backlog, over 3.5 gigawatts of contracted power, and OpenAI contracts worth about $22.4 billion.
Nebius Group (NBIS) Information Technology · AI Cloud (GPU-as-a-Service) The Amsterdam-headquartered, Nasdaq-listed AI cloud that grew Q1 2026 revenue 684% to $399 million. It carries a Microsoft infrastructure contract of about $17.4 billion through 2031 and a five-year Meta partnership of up to $27 billion, with more than 3.5 gigawatts of contracted power.
IREN (IREN) Information Technology · AI Cloud & Data Centers A vertically integrated AI cloud provider converting its renewable-powered bitcoin-mining sites into GPU data centers. It holds a $9.7 billion five-year Microsoft contract and a $3.4 billion NVIDIA cloud contract, with $3.1 billion of ARR under contract and a 5-gigawatt secured power pipeline.
Oracle (ORCL) Information Technology · Cloud Infrastructure & Software The hyperscale anchor of the concept. Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue grew 93% to $5.8 billion in fiscal Q4 2026, and remaining performance obligations hit $638 billion, up 363%, swollen by large AI contracts including the Stargate build-out with OpenAI.
Applied Digital (APLD) Information Technology · AI Data Center Operator A designer-builder-operator of liquid-cooled AI data centers. Its Polaris Forge 1 campus in North Dakota carries roughly $11 billion of contracted CoreWeave leases across 400 MW, a 200 MW hyperscaler lease anchors Polaris Forge 2, and fiscal Q3 2026 revenue rose 139% to $126.6 million.
Lumentum (LITE) Information Technology · Optical Components The laser maker of AI optics. Its externally-modulated lasers and transceivers carry data between GPUs, and AI demand drove fiscal Q3 2026 revenue up 90% to a record $808.4 million, with management still undershipping demand by more than 30% and NVIDIA investing $2 billion in March 2026.
Vertiv (VRT) Industrials · Data Center Power & Cooling The power-and-thermal pure play of the AI build-out. Vertiv sells the switchgear, UPS, busways, and liquid-cooling systems around the racks; Q1 2026 sales rose 30% to $2.65 billion, and fourth-quarter 2025 organic orders jumped 252% with a $15.0 billion backlog.
Sandisk (SNDK) Information Technology · Semiconductors (NAND Flash) The storage layer of the AI data center. The NAND pure play spun off from Western Digital saw datacenter revenue more than triple sequentially to $1.47 billion in fiscal Q3 2026, with $42 billion of minimum multiyear supply agreements locking in AI-era demand.
Celestica (CLS) Information Technology · Data Center Hardware Manufacturing The Toronto-based manufacturer that builds hyperscalers' custom switches and AI servers. Its Connectivity & Cloud Solutions segment grew 76% to $3.24 billion in Q1 2026, and the company raised its 2026 outlook to $19.0 billion in revenue with $10.15 of adjusted EPS.
Arista Networks (ANET) Information Technology · Data-Center Networking The Ethernet fabric of AI clusters. Arista's 800G switches lash thousands of GPUs into one machine; Q1 2026 revenue rose 35% to $2.71 billion, and it raised its 2026 AI-networking revenue target to $3.5 billion, more than double the prior year.

What are the risks of US AI Data Center?

The contracts are real, but so are the debts and the concentration.

  • Customer concentration. A few buyers fund most of the demand: Microsoft alone accounted for about 70% of CoreWeave’s revenue in mid-2025 (CNBC, Sep 25, 2025), and Microsoft is also the anchor customer of Nebius and IREN. One renegotiated or cancelled contract moves an entire constituent.
  • Leverage and funding risk. The build-out is debt-financed: CoreWeave secured an $8.5 billion debt facility in Q1 2026 alone (CoreWeave), Applied Digital sold $2.15 billion of 6.750% notes (Applied Digital 8-K), and Oracle raised $43 billion of debt in fiscal 2026 (Oracle 8-K). Higher rates or tighter credit would slow every roadmap.
  • Power and execution. Grid connections, transformers, and liquid-cooling capacity carry multi-year lead times, and the IEA flags electricity as the binding constraint on the sector’s growth (IEA). Delivery slips defer revenue that backlogs have already promised.
  • AI capex cyclicality. If model economics disappoint, hyperscaler budgets are the first cut, and a basket of landlords, lessors, and equipment suppliers would feel it simultaneously, with the unprofitable constituents hit hardest.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the US AI data center investment concept?

It is the set of U.S.-listed companies that build and operate the physical infrastructure of AI across three layers: neocloud GPU-as-a-Service providers (CoreWeave, Nebius), AI/HPC data-center operators (IREN, Applied Digital), Oracle's AI cloud, and the core equipment inside the halls, spanning Vertiv's power and cooling, Arista's networking, Lumentum's optics, Sandisk's storage, and Celestica's server manufacturing. The demand side is an AI build-out in which the four biggest hyperscalers plan roughly $700 billion of 2026 capital spending (Alphabet Q1 2026 call; Meta, Apr 29, 2026; CNBC, Apr 29, 2026).

Which companies represent the US AI data center concept?

Ten U.S.-listed names: CoreWeave (CRWV), Nebius Group (NBIS), IREN (IREN), Oracle (ORCL), Applied Digital (APLD), Lumentum (LITE), Vertiv (VRT), Sandisk (SNDK), Celestica (CLS), and Arista Networks (ANET). Together they cover AI cloud services, data-center operation, and the equipment stack from power to optics. CoreWeave alone ended Q1 2026 with a $99.4 billion revenue backlog and more than 3.5 gigawatts of contracted power (CoreWeave, May 7, 2026).

What is a neocloud, or GPU-as-a-Service provider?

A cloud company built around one product: renting large NVIDIA GPU clusters for AI training and inference, with the data centers, power, and orchestration software around them. The model is scaling at triple digits: CoreWeave grew Q1 2026 revenue 112% to $2.08 billion (CoreWeave, May 7, 2026), Nebius grew 684% to $399 million (Nebius, May 13, 2026), and IREN targets $3.7 billion of annualized revenue by the end of 2026 (IREN, May 7, 2026).

How big is the AI data center build-out in 2026?

Measured in contracts, the largest capital program in tech history. Oracle's remaining performance obligations hit $638 billion in fiscal Q4 2026, up 363% year over year (Oracle 8-K, Jun 10, 2026). The Stargate program with OpenAI and SoftBank targets $500 billion for 10 gigawatts of U.S. AI infrastructure (OpenAI, Jan 21, 2025), of which Oracle alone is developing 4.5 gigawatts (OpenAI, Jul 22, 2025). The IEA projects global data-centre electricity use to more than double to about 945 TWh by 2030 (IEA).

Why are power and cooling companies in an AI data center basket?

Because electricity and heat are the binding constraints on AI capacity. The IEA expects data centres to account for almost half of U.S. electricity-demand growth to 2030 (IEA). Vertiv, which sells the switchgear, UPS, and liquid cooling around the racks, booked fourth-quarter 2025 organic orders up 252% with a ~2.9x book-to-bill and a $15.0 billion backlog (Vertiv 8-K, Feb 11, 2026), and racks dense enough for NVIDIA-class GPUs increasingly require direct-to-chip liquid cooling, like Applied Digital's 100 MW Ellendale facility (Applied Digital 8-K, Apr 8, 2026).

What are the main risks of the US AI data center theme?

Concentration, leverage, and execution. A handful of buyers fund the demand: Microsoft alone was about 70% of CoreWeave's revenue in mid-2025 (CNBC, Sep 25, 2025). The build-out is debt-financed: CoreWeave posted a $740 million Q1 2026 net loss while guiding $31-35 billion of capex (CNBC, May 7, 2026), and Oracle ran negative $23.7 billion of fiscal 2026 free cash flow after raising $43 billion of debt (Oracle 8-K, Jun 10, 2026). Grid connections and equipment lead times can delay capacity, and a deceleration in hyperscaler capex would hit every layer at once.

Is US AI data center a good long-term investment for an individual investor?

It suits an investor who wants concentrated exposure to AI infrastructure and can absorb the volatility of young, capex-heavy companies, sized as a satellite position rather than a core holding. The contracts behind the theme are real and dated: OpenAI's CoreWeave agreements total about $22.4 billion (CoreWeave, Sep 25, 2025) and Oracle carries a $638 billion backlog (Oracle 8-K). But several constituents are unprofitable while they build (CoreWeave lost $740 million in Q1 2026 alone (CNBC)), so drawdowns can be deep if AI spending slows.

How does US AI data center fit an institutional AI-infrastructure sleeve?

As the picks-and-shovels complement to a chip sleeve: it owns the buildings, power, and plumbing rather than the silicon. The thesis maps to disclosed counterparty commitments, including Microsoft's roughly $17.4 billion Nebius contract (Nebius 6-K, Sep 8, 2025), Microsoft's $9.7 billion IREN contract (IREN, Nov 3, 2025), and Meta's up to $27 billion Nebius partnership (Nebius Q1 2026 call). The allocator's caveats are heavy debt financing, single-customer concentration, and factor overlap with any growth or momentum book.

Is there an ETF that tracks the US AI data center concept?

Yes. The TIGER US AI Data Center TOP4 Plus ETF (0142D0) from Mirae Asset Global Investments listed on the Korea Exchange on December 9, 2025 and tracks the Akros U.S. AI Data Center TOP4 Plus Index behind this concept (Mirae Asset product page). The fund holds ten U.S.-listed AI data-center names, including neoclouds such as CoreWeave and Nebius alongside equipment makers like Vertiv, and charges a total fee of 0.49% a year (Financial News, Dec 9, 2025). Always check fees, holdings, and risk before investing.

Sources & references

  1. CoreWeave Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results · CoreWeave, Inc., 2026-05-07
  2. CoreWeave (CRWV) Q1 earnings report 2026 · CNBC, 2026-05-07
  3. CoreWeave Expands Agreement with OpenAI by up to $6.5B · CoreWeave, Inc., 2025-09-25
  4. CoreWeave inks $6.5 billion deal with OpenAI · CNBC, 2025-09-25
  5. Nebius reports first quarter 2026 financial results · Nebius Group N.V., 2026-05-13
  6. Nebius (NBIS) Q1 2026 earnings call transcript · The Motley Fool, 2026-05-13
  7. Nebius announces AI infrastructure agreement with Microsoft (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Nebius Group N.V. / SEC EDGAR, 2025-09-08
  8. IREN Business Update and Q3 FY26 Results · IREN Limited, 2026-05-07
  9. IREN Secures $9.7bn AI Cloud Contract with Microsoft · IREN Limited, 2025-11-03
  10. Oracle Announces Record Q4 and FY 2026 Results (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Oracle Corporation / SEC EDGAR, 2026-06-10
  11. Stargate advances with 4.5 GW partnership with Oracle · OpenAI, 2025-07-22
  12. Announcing The Stargate Project · OpenAI, 2025-01-21
  13. Applied Digital Reports Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 Results (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Applied Digital Corporation / SEC EDGAR, 2026-04-08
  14. Applied Digital Finalizes Additional 150MW Lease with CoreWeave in North Dakota · Applied Digital Corporation, 2025-08-29
  15. Vertiv Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results; Raises Full-Year Guidance (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Vertiv Holdings Co / SEC EDGAR, 2026-04-22
  16. Vertiv Reports Strong Fourth Quarter 2025 with Organic Orders Growth of 252% (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Vertiv Holdings Co / SEC EDGAR, 2026-02-11
  17. Celestica Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results · Celestica Inc., 2026-04-27
  18. Lumentum Announces Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results · Lumentum Holdings Inc., 2026-05-05
  19. Arista Networks reports first quarter 2026 financial results · Arista Networks, 2026-05-05
  20. Sandisk Reports Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Sandisk Corporation / SEC EDGAR, 2026-04-30
  21. AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres (Energy and AI) · International Energy Agency, 2025-04-10
  22. Meta Reports First Quarter 2026 Results (SEC 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Meta Platforms, Inc. / SEC EDGAR, 2026-04-29
  23. Alphabet (GOOGL) Q1 2026 earnings call transcript · The Motley Fool, 2026-04-29
  24. Amazon (AMZN) Q1 earnings report 2026 · CNBC, 2026-04-29
  25. Oracle (ORCL) Q4 2026 earnings call transcript · The Motley Fool, 2026-06-10
  26. TIGER 미국AI데이터센터TOP4Plus (0142D0) · product page · Mirae Asset Global Investments, 2025-12-09
  27. "AI 핵심 테마에 투자"...'TIGER 미국AI데이터센터TOP4Plus', 신규 상장 · 파이낸셜뉴스 (Financial News), 2025-12-09