Big Tech companies , processor manufacturers, and data center operators are not the only ones benefiting from the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations.
A group of "unlikely winners," comprised of names from the "old economy," is also seeing its valuations rise, given the importance these companies have in realizing all the aspirations placed on the technology that promises to be the next industrial revolution.
Companies like Caterpillar, best known for its construction equipment, the German contractor Hochtief, and the American steelmaker Nucor are among a group of 200 companies whose stocks are outperforming the MSCI World Index, the leading global stock index, considering the 12 months ending June 9th.
During this period, according to a survey by the Financial Times (FT) , the index accumulated a 21% increase. Some of the names in this group, however, registered appreciations in the triple digits. This is the case of Caterpillar, which registered a 151% increase, adding US$ 247.7 billion to its market value.
There were also those who started profiting recently by deciding to embrace the AI concept. Ford , which has been struggling in recent years, saw its shares rise 25% in May after announcing it would redirect some of the technology developed for electric cars to the manufacture of batteries for data centers.
The numbers show that investors are looking beyond the obvious names to position themselves in the AI trade, allocating resources to companies that should benefit from investments aimed at building the infrastructure necessary for the technology to operate.
Many of these companies, in fact, were already operating before 1958, when the microchip was invented. This is the case of the mining company BHP , founded in 1885, whose shares have accumulated a 76.5% increase in 12 months, driven by the prospect of growing demand for copper.
The expectation is that these companies will be able to capture a share of the high investments that so-called hyperscalers are making in physical assets for AI.
Companies like Alphabet , Microsoft , Amazon , Meta , and Oracle are expected to invest a total of $700 billion in 2026 alone. Data from the U.S. government compiled by the Financial Times shows that monthly spending on data center construction reached $50 billion in the United States in April.
The specific requirements of the technology also end up favoring some companies. For example, AI servers need to be more interconnected, increasing the need for cabling and advanced optical solutions.
This caused shares of Corning, the inventor of Pyrex glass 175 years ago and supplier of screens for Apple's iPhones, to rise more than 270%, after the company closed deals with Meta and Nvidia to supply fiber optic cabling for AI data centers.
The big question is whether this movement is sustainable, considering the suspicions that AI may be creating a stock market bubble, driven by a small group of companies. Bain & Company estimates that the technology industry needs to generate $2 trillion in annual revenue from AI to justify current levels of spending on data centers.
Many of these companies were severely impacted in early 2025 when DeepSeek announced the launch of a cheaper LLM that would require less investment in infrastructure.
For now, optimism remains in the air. Speaking to the Financial Times , the French company Schneider Electric stated that data centers remain central to its strategy, while Siemens declared that the demand for AI is a "long-term structural growth trend, not a short-term cycle," adding that its data center business is projected to grow by 40% by 2025.
In the survey, Schneider Electric shares showed a cumulative increase of 17%, while Siemens shares rose 20.5%.
