AI data centers are hungry beasts. They devour electricity, generate enormous heat, and demand network speeds that would have seemed like science fiction a decade ago. AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini can do some amazing things, but it takes a lot of computing hardware to make it happen.
The hyperscalers are spending accordingly; nearly $1 trillion went into data center buildouts in 2025 alone. Solving these infrastructure challenges has become a booming business, and two smaller companies are quietly cashing in.
NASDAQ: FLNC
Key Data Points
Fluence Energy
Modern data centers crave a reliable power supply without surges, spikes, or jittery sine wave frequencies. Fluence Energy (FLNC +0.43%) makes industrial-scale battery modules that deliver the pristine energy AI servers require. It's a particularly natural fit when paired with renewable energy sources such as wind or solar, as Fluence's battery packs let you build energy reserves for later use when the wind is blowing or sun is shining.
The company was formed in 2018 as a joint venture between industrial engineering giant Siemens (SIEGY 1.34%) and power generation expert AES (AES +0.07%). Revenues have been flat in recent years, even trending down in 2025, but analysts see a hockey-stick moment coming up. Two years from now, annual sales should be up by 57%.
And what's fueling Fluence's upcoming growth spurt? Data centers, of course.
"In terms of new customer segments, our biggest opportunity is data centers," CEO Julian Marquez said in last week's Q1 2026 earnings call. The company has 36 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of data center projects under development. None of these potential sales are included in Fluence's official order backlog yet, but it's a big opportunity. As of last September, the company had a total installed capacity of 46 GWh.
Long story short, Fluence should get a lot of data center orders over the next couple of years. Many analysts and investors are skeptical because no contracts have been signed yet. The stock is richly valued despite a recent price correction, but well worth a nibble thanks to the explosive data center opportunity. Growth investors don't always mind paying a premium price for high-octane growth stocks, and Fluence is poised to join that group.
NASDAQ: CRDO
Key Data Points
Credo Technology
Data center operators are happy to replace longtime favorite solutions if the change results in higher performance or lower costs. With Credo Technology's (CRDO +3.25%) high-speed networking tools, they can reduce power consumption and cooling requirements without sacrificing network performance.
Credo's Active Electrical Cables (AECs) can deliver data flows at up to 0.8 terabits per second (or twice that in the brand-new fourth-generation products), using copper cables with directly attached traffic management chips. That's comparable to the latest and greatest fiber-optic networks, while using much less electric power.
On the downside, Credo's cables can't exceed 7 meters (21 feet), but that's not a problem in densely populated data centers. AEC is a perfect match for the densely packed and data-hungry environment of an AI data center.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company is a strong innovator. Other network hardware makers pay significant royalties for the serializer-deserializer technology at the heart of those high-speed AEC connections.
Most of Credo's revenues come from a handful of hyperscalers. For example, a single unnamed client accounted for 67% of total revenues in fiscal year 2025, which ended on May 3 last year. So the sales can be lumpy and dependent on these mega-clients' data center infrastructure investments. But it's an incredible business. In the just-released preliminary report for Q3 2026, Credo pointed to revenues near $406 million -- triple the $135 million seen in the year-ago period.
This little networking expert is going places, one data center at a time.
