Nvidia's (NVDA -1.44%) recent earnings report boosted the market and alleviated concerns about any slowdown in artificial intelligence (AI) and data-center-related spending. That's great news for Nvidia and other frontline players in the AI/data center industry. It's also great news for some of the more esoteric, yet no less investable, stocks with exposure to the theme, such as GE HealthCare Technologies (GEHC 0.52%), industrial software company PTC (PTC -0.28%), and data center equipment company Vertiv (VRT -0.55%).
GE HealthCare Technologies and Nvidia
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang noted his company's collaboration with GE HealthCare on AI-powered robotics during Nvidia's recent fiscal first-quarter 2026 earnings call. The healthcare company is utilizing Nvidia's AI-powered robotics platform, Isaac, to enhance the value of its imaging systems, and Huang referenced it as an example of the "era of robotics."
He has a point, and the value-add from embedding AI-powered applications into GE HealthCare's leading imaging systems (including ultrasound, MRI scanners, and X-ray equipment) is that they can guide patients better and optimally gather and analyze data from images in an automated manner. Moreover, AI tools help support decision-making and patient monitoring.
These are all major pluses for a company that manufactures imaging equipment, as well as the pharmaceutical diagnostics used in conjunction with it to diagnose and guide the application of targeted treatments. Additionally, GE HealthCare provides solutions that enable the monitoring of patients.
As such, AI adds value across all of GE HealthCare's businesses, and that's likely to translate into better patient outcomes and boost long-term sales growth for the company.
Image source: Getty Images.
PTC, AI, and industrial software
Huang also highlighted an AI area that often receives insufficient recognition, namely industrial AI. The underlying trend behind investment in AI and digital technology is already strong, and it is only going to intensify if President Donald Trump achieves his goal of onshoring manufacturing back to the U.S. and away from low-labor-cost countries.
Automation, robotics, and AI-powered industrial software are the answer to the question of how to reshore production cost-effectively. Huang noted:
Every factory will have an AI factory associated with it. And in order to create these physical AI systems, you really have to train a vast amount of data. So back to more data, more training, more AIs to be created, more computers.
That's where Nvidia's partner PTC comes in. Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) help designers to utilize PTC's computer-aided design (CAD) software, and create real-time digital models that interact with the physical world to improve the performance of machinery in the latter, not least through the use of advanced real-time AI-powered analytics in its product lifecycle management (PLM) software.
PTC has grown recurring revenue at a double-digit rate in recent years, and it's set to drive mid-teens growth in free cash flow (FCF). If Huang's belief in the power of industrial AI is justified, then that rate of growth could persist for a long time into the future.
Image source: Getty Images.
Vertiv remains a key Nvidia partner
Let's move on from two companies that are adding value by using AI, to one that's adding value by contributing to the growth of AI, specifically the power needed to support growth in AI at data centers. Vertiv continues to generate strong orders and backlog growth in 2025, but the key question with growth stocks is always what happens beyond the near to medium term, and will t justify the stock's valuation?
One answer comes from a recent Nvidia blog post outlining the company's leadership in transitioning to 800 volt high voltage direct current (800V HVDC) data centers "starting in 2027." The conversion of high-voltage power from the grid to 800V HVDC in the data center (rather than using lower-voltage power) improves conversion efficiency, reduces copper requirements, and improves reliability, according to Nvidia.
That's where Vertiv comes in, because it recently confirmed that its 800 volt direct current (VDC) power architecture for data centers is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2026, ahead of Nvidia's next generation of platforms intended for 800V HVDC, or 800 VDC.
Vertiv's solutions include rectifiers to convert grid power to 800 VDC, busways to distribute the power, converters to lower the voltage to a manageable level, and backup systems to support the data center. Vertiv faces competition, not least from powerful companies like Eaton and Schneider. Still, the growth opportunity remains significant for all market players, and Vertiv is a specialist in power solutions for communications and data centers.
