GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) have both emerged as major industrial beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom.
According to Goldman Sachs, hyperscaler capital investments could reach $1.7 trillion by 2027 and climb further to $2.1 trillion by 2029.
The sheer scale of projected spending has driven surging demand for industrial companies capable of delivering reliable, large-scale power solutions to data center operators.
Both GEV and CAT have delivered standout stock performance in recent years, but the degree of their exposure to AI-related power demand differs substantially.
Since the start of 2024, GE Vernova’s stock has surged 596%, compared to a still-impressive 149% gain for Caterpillar over the same period.
GE Vernova is seeing extraordinary demand for its power and electrification equipment, including large-scale HA gas turbines capable of delivering multiple gigawatts of output to utilities.
Strong orders for substation and transmission infrastructure have also been a meaningful driver of earnings growth for the company.
In the first half of 2026, data center orders within GE Vernova’s electrification segment doubled to $5 billion, underscoring the accelerating pace of AI-linked infrastructure investment.
Caterpillar’s business is structured differently, split between construction and mining equipment on one side and power and energy solutions on the other.
Data centers require large, redundant backup power systems to keep AI training and inference workloads running continuously, as downtime can cost hyperscalers significant sums of money and lost productivity.
Caterpillar has benefited directly from this need, with demand for its standby and backup power systems rising sharply and diesel generator order backlogs now stretching into 2028.
While Caterpillar’s exposure to the AI power build-out is real and growing, it remains a secondary part of a more diversified industrial business rather than a central driver.
GE Vernova, by contrast, is more directly tied to the primary power generation and grid infrastructure that hyperscalers and utilities require to support AI workloads at scale.
Both stocks have grown more volatile as their fortunes become increasingly linked to the trajectory of AI capital spending, making investor expectations for future hyperscaler investment a critical factor.
For investors seeking concentrated exposure to the AI power infrastructure theme, GE Vernova presents a more direct and higher-beta opportunity than the more diversified Caterpillar.
