AI Stocks Emerge as Data Centers Face Growing Resistance

As AI workloads consume more computing power and capital, public resistance to energy-hungry data centers is rising. This creates a filter moment for investors who are shifting their attention from story stocks to businesses that already earn real money from AI and can justify new server farms, chips, and software with cash flow. One such business is NVIDIA (NVDA), which generates most of its revenue from the Compute & Networking segment at around US$275.4 billion.

NVIDIA's data center compute and software stack makes it a mature AI earner that investors can look up to for guidance. However, there are concerns about the company's pricing power, particularly if a quiet shift in the AI software stack changes how much NVIDIA holds over data center spend. The question of whether NVIDIA will continue to accelerate from here is still open.

Two other profitable AI players that have caught investors' attention are 2CRSI (ENXTPA:AL2SI) and eMemory Technology (TPEX:3529). 2CRSI designs and builds GPU and AI servers, dense racks, and cooling systems for AI data centers. The company generated about €405 million from sales of components and finished products and carries a market value of roughly €606 million.

eMemory Technology turns its embedded non-volatile memory and hardware security IP into royalty engines linked to real AI deployment. The company generates NT$4.2 billion in sales entirely from memory chip-related IP and products, and the stock carries a market value of about NT$236.8 billion.