Here's Why Shares in This Hidden Data Center and AI Stock Surged in September
Key Points
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This company is one of the best ways to get exposure to data center capital spending.
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Capital spending commitments typically result in increased orders for data center solution providers.
Shares in data center infrastructure company and Nvidia partner Vertiv Holdings (NYSE: VRT) surged by 18.2% in September, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The move follows an excellent period of news flow on Vertiv’s primary end market, specifically AI-driven data center spending.
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Vertiv’s and hyperscalers’ roles in data centers
The company provides power, thermal management, and other critical data center infrastructure. The key metric that investors follow is its order flow, as orders typically flow into revenue and cash flow. However, the key to growing that metric is the willingness of hyperscalers (large-scale public cloud providers that include Alphabet‘s Google Cloud, Microsoft‘s Azure, Amazon Web Services, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Meta‘s private cloud).
The data center spending plans of these companies are closely watched, not only because they indicate where the market is heading, but because, according to management consultant McKinsey, about 70% of demand from data centers “is for data centers equipped to host advanced-AI workloads” typically run by hyperscalers.
Positive news flow
As such, when hyperscalers make multi-billion dollar deals and capital spending commitments, investors start to pencil in a strengthening of orders at Vertiv down the line, not least as Vertiv is partnering with Nvidia to develop infrastructure for the next generation of 800V high voltage direct current (HVDC) data centers set to launch in 2027.
The news flow through the month was highly positive, with Nvidia ending August by announcing a 56% year-over-year increase in data center revenue in its second quarter 2026 earnings and a 5% sequential increase on its first quarter.
Meanwhile, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced a $300 billion deal to invest in an additional five data centers (7 gigawatts of capacity) under OpenAI’s AI Infrastructure program, Stargate. The investment brings investment in Stargate up to $400 billion, and according to OpenAI, puts it on a “clear path to securing the full $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment we announced in January by the end of 2025, ahead of schedule.”
Additionally, U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, have announced $42 billion worth of investment to build data centers in the U.K.
Is Vertiv stock a buy?
The market wasted no time in pricing in the positive news flow into Vertiv’s share price. While it might be too early to expect a significant bump in orders for the company, what management has to say about its sales pipeline when it reports its third-quarter earnings in a few weeks will be fascinating — something to look out for.
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Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.