5 AI-Infrastructure Giants to Buy for 2026 on Massive Data Center Boom

The artificial intelligence (AI) saga, supported by the massive growth of cloud computing and data centers, is yet to fully unfold. This space remains rock solid supported by an extremely bullish demand scenario. The demand for AI-powered data center capacity surged to manage and store the vast amount of cloud computing-based data. 

Four of the “magnificent 7” stocks have decided to invest a massive $650 billion in 2026 as capital expenditure for AI-infrastructure development. This marks a significant 71.1% year-over-year increase in capital spending on the AI ecosystem.

After benefiting the semiconductor industry immensely, the astonishing growth of the AI-powered data centers is going to boost other infrastructure segments. This includes, communication components, especially optical connectivity, storage systems, thermal systems, liquid cooling, construction infrastructure, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, to name a few.

Here, we narrowed our search to five AI-centric giants that have strong growth potential in 2026. These are: Amphenol Corp. APH, Western Digital Corp. WDC, Vertiv Holdings Co. VRT, Lumentum Holdings Inc. LITE and EMCOR Group Inc. EME. Each of our picks currently carries either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The chart below sows the price performance of our five picks year to date.

Amphenol Corp. 

Zacks Rank #2 Amphenol benefits from a diversified business model. Its strong portfolio of solutions, including high-technology interconnect products, is a key catalyst. The company is a dominant force in AI-powered data center interconnects, commanding an estimated 33% market share. APH’s advanced fiber-optic and high-density interconnect solutions are now essential for hyperscale data centers and 5G deployments. 

APH’s AI-driven datacom momentum is transforming its growth profile, with recent fourth-quarter 2025 results indicating a capacity-driven infrastructure shift rather than a short-term surge. IT datacom — the segment most exposed to AI infrastructure — generated triple-digit organic growth, fueled by high-speed and power interconnect products supporting next-generation data centers. 

APH’s record bookings and a strong book-to-bill ratio are aligned with AI investment cycles, as customers extend commitments for large-scale system buildouts. This visibility reflects multi-quarter capacity planning, confirming demand tied to expansion initiatives and supporting revenue durability.

Amphenol is deepening its competitive positioning amid this demand expansion. The inclusion of CommScope’s CCS business enhances its fiber, copper and power connectivity portfolio, positioning APH to serve a wider range of AI datacenter architectures. AI workloads are simultaneously increasing performance thresholds, reinforcing the importance of APH’s mission-critical interconnect solutions.

Amphenol has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 34.9% and 29.3%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1.9% in the last 30 days. 

Western Digital Corp.

Zacks Rank #1 Western Digital has been witnessing strong execution amid intensified cloud and AI demand. WDC has witnessed strong data center demand and increased adoption of high-capacity hard disk drives (HDD). This reflects its ability to scale reliable, high-capacity storage solutions to meet the needs of the AI-driven data economy.

As AI and cloud adoption accelerate, demand for higher-density storage continues to rise. WDC is meeting this demand through close collaboration with hyperscale customers, delivering reliable, high-capacity drives at scale with strong performance and total cost of ownership. 

Gen AI adoption is driving eSSD sales due to its speed, reliability and efficiency over HDDs. Growing AI data boosts demand, fueling eSSD market growth and reshaping storage. Agentic AI is driving future data growth, while its platform business is gaining traction among native AI firms and SaaS providers.

Western Digital has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of -6.3% and 81.7%, respectively, for the current year (ending June 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 16.2% in the last 30 days. 

Vertiv Holdings Co.

Zacks Rank #2 Vertiv Holdings has benefited from an extensive product portfolio, which spans thermal systems, liquid cooling, UPS, switchgear, busbar, and modular solutions. Buoyed by unprecedented data center growth, VRT is strategically expanding capacity to accelerate its AI-enabled pipeline. 

VRT also benefited from the accelerating digital transformation driven by AI and data center demand. Acquisitions have also played a key role, with Great Lakes enhancing IT systems and white space solutions, and Weeleay boosting service capabilities through real-time machine data analysis and predictive actions.

Vertiv’s partnership with NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) is a key catalyst. VRT co-develops an 800-volt DC power architecture with NVDA, timed to align with the 2027 rollout of NVIDIA's Rubin Ultra platforms. This keeps VRT one GPU generation ahead of evolving silicon architectures, ensuring its infrastructure solutions remain relevant as rack power requirements scale toward and beyond the megawatt threshold.

Vertiv Holdings has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 34% and 46.9%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 15.3% over the last 30 days. 

Lumentum Holdings Inc.

Zacks Rank #1 Lumentum Holdings designs and manufactures optical and photonic technologies for high-speed telecommunications, data centers, and advanced manufacturing. LITE provides components, such as transceivers and lasers for fiber-optic networks, supporting the rapid growth of AI, cloud computing, 5G connectivity, and beyond.

LITE’s fiscal second-quarter 2026 results mark a significant inflection point for the company, driven by strengthening demand for AI infrastructure connectivity solutions. LITE’s robust revenue growth reflects accelerating customer adoption of optical technologies that address bandwidth and power efficiency challenges in modern AI workloads.

LITE’s technology leadership in high-speed optical components has positioned it as an essential supplier to hyperscale customers deploying next-generation network architectures. Moreover, LITE has a strong collaboration with NVIDIA for developing NVDA’s silicon photonics ecosystem, especially for deploying the latter’s Spectrum-X Photonics networking switches.

Lumentum Holdings has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 76.7% and more than 100%, respectively, for the current year (ending June 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 34.6% over the last 30 days.

EMCOR Group Inc.

Zacks Rank #2 EMCOR Group is a leading provider of critical infrastructure to AI-powered data centers. Major offerings of EME are electrical infrastructure, mechanical and cooling systems and fire protection and safety. 

EME is gaining solid traction in the fast-growing data center construction market, which has become an important contributor to its expanding remaining performance obligations (RPOs). EME is actively building on its expertise to manage complex data center projects that involve multiple trades and diverse customer needs. 

With a focus on operational efficiency, planning and execution discipline, EME is strengthening its ability to capture new opportunities in this segment. The growing demand for data centers from multiple regions is not only driving consistent project wins but also supporting a more visible and stable flow of future work.

The growing scale of data center construction work is likely to remain a key support for its order book and future revenue visibility, reinforcing the company’s steady performance momentum in 2026.

EMCOR Group has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 5.4% and 8.6%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.01% over the last 30 days. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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