Mountains of capital are flowing into artificial intelligence infrastructure, and two industrial companies are positioned near the center of that spending. According to a report by Yahoo Finance, Caterpillar and Vertiv Holdings are among the pick-and-shovel beneficiaries of the ongoing data center construction boom.
Caterpillar is known primarily for heavy industrial vehicles, but its power and energy division plays a growing role in next-generation data centers. The division manufactures reciprocating engines and generator sets, equipment that has historically been used for backup power. As demand for AI compute has surged, many data center operators have been unwilling or unable to wait for their facilities to connect to the standard power grid. For those operators, a packaged Caterpillar engine and generator set serves as a primary power solution.
The power and energy division saw revenue rise 21% year over year in the company's most recently reported quarter, reaching $7 billion. The construction industries unit added a 38% increase. Combined, those results drove overall company revenue growth of 22% to $17.4 billion.
Caterpillar does not break down divisional sales by client or product type, so a precise accounting of data center-related revenue is not available. But the trajectory of the power generation segment has prompted management to dramatically revise its long-range forecast. At the time of its first-quarter results, released at the end of April, the company said it now expects power generation product sales to triple from 2024 levels by 2030. The previous forecast had called for sales to merely double over that same period.
Vertiv Holdings is the second company cited as a major industrial beneficiary of AI data center construction. Vertiv focuses on thermal management, power distribution, and infrastructure systems that keep data centers running. As data centers grow larger and more power-dense to support AI workloads, the demand for Vertiv's products has grown alongside them.
Both companies represent what analysts describe as a pick-and-shovel approach to AI investing, meaning they profit from building the infrastructure that supports AI rather than developing the AI applications themselves. That approach can offer more stable revenue than betting on specific AI platforms or models, which remain subject to rapid technological change.
Caterpillar's revised forecast of tripling power generation sales by 2030 is the single sharpest indicator of how much the company's leadership believes AI-related demand will shape the next several years of its business.
