1 AI Power Play Most Investors Missed

While analysts chase the next hot AI chipmaker, one company has become indispensable to the AI boom itself, not through computing, but through power.

Bloom Energy, long known for its on-site solid oxide fuel cells, has suddenly become the market’s stealth AI infrastructure play. Shares have rocketed more than 6x this year, and for reasons most investors haven’t yet grasped.

Key Points

• Bloom’s fuel cells solve AI’s growing energy shortage by delivering clean, on-site power for data centers.

• Deals with Oracle and Brookfield’s $5B plan cement Bloom as a key player in global AI infrastructure.

• Revenue jumped almost 60%, but the stock’s 500% surge could reverse if AI spending cools.

Growing Energy Crisis Behind AI

Behind the scenes of AI’s rapid expansion lies a mounting problem few are talking about, power. According to some, data center power demand could 2x next year, and AI workloads are already responsible for more than 4% of total U.S. electricity use. Traditional grids, designed decades ago, simply weren’t built for this.

That’s where Bloom steps in. Its solid oxide fuel cells generate electricity directly at the site, no grid congestion, no transmission losses, and no waiting years for new substations.

Each Bloom “Energy Server” runs on natural gas, biogas, or even hydrogen, converting fuel to power with high efficiency and minimal emissions.

For AI firms desperate to build data centers fast, this technology provides independence from the overloaded grid.

Oracle and Brookfield Deals

Bloom’s breakout moment came in July, when it announced a deal to power Oracle’s AI data centers, a partnership that signaled Silicon Valley’s recognition of Bloom’s edge. Instead of relying solely on utilities, Oracle could deploy Bloom’s systems for localized, scalable power.

While most market chatter focuses on Nvidia’s GPUs or Microsoft’s cloud capacity, the energy side of AI’s equation may be even more lucrative.

AI-related electricity demand is projected to rise exponentially. Meeting that demand will require hundreds of billions in new infrastructure, and companies like Bloom sit at the intersection of clean tech, distributed energy, and AI growth.

Unlike typical renewable players, Bloom’s technology is fuel-flexible. It can transition from natural gas today to hydrogen tomorrow without replacing core systems, a future-proofing edge that utilities and data center operators find compelling.

Financials + Future Trajectory

Bloom’s fundamentals are finally catching up with its vision. The company has now posted four consecutive quarters of record revenue, with the most recent quarter showing almost 60% year-over-year growth. Gross margins are improving as scale and automation lower manufacturing costs. Bloom’s systems are already deployed in over 1,000 sites globally, including Fortune 500 companies.

Still, the stock’s meteoric rise brings risk. AI-driven capital spending cycles are notoriously volatile. A pause in data center construction, or slower-than-expected hydrogen adoption, could hit Bloom’s growth hard. The company remains unprofitable, and scaling up manufacturing while maintaining efficiency will be crucial to justify its soaring valuation.

What’s Next?

Bloom Energy isn’t just another clean-energy story, it’s an AI infrastructure story hiding in plain sight. As the global power grid strains under the weight of machine learning, Bloom’s distributed energy systems may become the backbone that keeps AI running.

Investors chasing the AI theme would do well to look beyond chips and servers because without enough power, the entire AI revolution could go dark. And Bloom Energy may just be the company keeping the lights on.