You can’t scroll through a financial news feed today without seeing a headline about a major market segment, be it tech or industrials, getting completely reshaped by artificial intelligence.
If you’re seeking the clearest, most direct way to invest in the AI revolution, you need to look beyond the graphics processing unit (GPU) makers and go straight to the powerhouse infrastructure that makes AI possible: data centers.
[Sign up for stock news with our Invested newsletter.]
Think of it this way: AI is the brain and the data center is the nervous system. The explosive growth of AI has created an insatiable demand for powerful data centers.
“We always ask ourselves: Who are the leaders working with to acquire data centers, services (or) products?” says Alonso Munoz, chief investment officer at Hamilton Capital Partners. “In other words, we are looking for the lateral opportunities, or for companies that will likely benefit from working with the AI powerhouses.”
Companies are increasing their data center spending so fast it’s difficult to keep up with current estimates. In fact, as we begin 2026, consensus estimates for capital expenditures by the “Magnificent Seven” and other top hyperscalers have been revised sharply higher. Investors can now expect these tech giants to pour upwards of $527 billion into AI and data center investments in fiscal 2026, according to Wall Street analysts. That’s a $62 billion increase from third-quarter estimates.
Looking at the long-term horizon, the Dell’Oro Group — an independent market research firm specializing in data center infrastructure — forecasts that global data center capital expenditure will reach a staggering $1.2 trillion by 2029. Liquid cooling alone — necessary for large-scale AI operations — is expected to generate $7 billion in revenue by 2029.
That kind of spending is bound to have huge knock-on effects on the U.S. and global economies. After all, building new data centers and upgrading old ones to handle AI involves the industrial sector, materials, utilities, energy, defense companies, real estate and, of course, the communications, information and technology sectors. Nearly the entire market is — directly or indirectly — benefiting from the ongoing data center boom.
Not just any data center stock, exchange-traded fund (ETF) or real estate investment trust (REIT) will do, however. Here are seven of the best data center stocks, ETFs and REITs to buy now:
| STOCK, ETF OR REIT | MARKET CAPITALIZATION | FORWARD DIVIDEND YIELD |
| Equinix Inc. (ticker: EQIX) | $94 billion | 2% |
| Digital Realty Trust (DLR) | $63 billion | 2.7% |
| Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) | $3 trillion | 0.9% |
| Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) | $4.5 trillion | 0.02% |
| Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) | $2.2 trillion | 0% |
| Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) | $1.6 trillion | 0.8% |
| Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (DTCR) | $1.2 billion* | 1%** |
*Net assets, rather than market capitalization, are listed for this fund.
**30-day SEC yield.
Equinix Inc. (EQIX)
Equinix is far and away the largest data center REIT in the world. The company has a market cap of $94 billion and operates more than 270 data centers on six continents. This includes facilities and hyperscale data centers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
“There is significant value in being the most connected data center business globally,” writes Mark Giarelli, an equity analyst for Morningstar. “Equinix provides the most connections of any data center business — both to network providers and cloud providers via on-ramps — to all its customers worldwide.”
Equinix centers act as a neutral “meet-me room” where the world’s major networks, cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Azure and Google Cloud, and enterprises physically and virtually connect. This concentration of partners, including Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), creates a powerful network effect, making it difficult for competitors to replicate and driving consistent customer retention.
Digital Realty Trust (DLR)
DLR is a global REIT and is considered one of the largest dedicated providers of data center solutions. While Equinix dominates the interconnection market, DLR is the leader in offering massive, power-heavy facilities for the world’s biggest cloud providers, such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Nvidia and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), to run their core infrastructure.
The company’s platform, PlatformDIGITAL, spans over 300 data centers globally. It provides move-in ready data center suites or build-to-suit models and the specialized power and liquid cooling solutions to support AI’s high-performance computing.
“Deepening reliance on cloud-native applications and widespread increases in artificial intelligence inference demand have positioned Digital Realty to help facilitate the next generation of networking infrastructure,” Giarelli writes. The company’s latest earning report for fourth quarter 2025 was strong with revenue of $1.6 billion, 14% higher than the same quarter in 2024.
“While 2026 revenue guidance was slightly softer than our expectations due to lease commencement timing, improving margins will tide the firm over for what looks to be a historically strong 2027,” Giarelli writes.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Software stocks have experienced a lull in performance of late, but the investment case for Microsoft remains strong, according to Dan Romanoff, Morningstar senior equity research analyst. He taps Microsoft as one of his top wide-moat picks among software stocks. He “sees substantial upside” for the stock, but notes that “the software landscape is not for the faint of heart at present.”
The company’s strength lies in its dominance of the hyperscale cloud market with Microsoft Azure and its leadership position in the burgeoning generative AI space through its partnership with OpenAI and its Copilot platforms.
Microsoft’s fundamental strength is powered by the scale and profitability of its cloud segment, which generates enormous revenue growth. This segment requires unprecedented capital expenditures to build out its global data center footprint to support the intense power and computing demands of AI models like GPT-4. So, by investing in Microsoft, you’re indirectly investing in the same value proposition provided by data centers.
Its strong balance sheet, highly profitable software products like Office365 and unique strategic positioning at the intersection of AI, cloud and software make it a fundamental anchor for any digital infrastructure investment theme.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Nvidia has become the gravitational center of the AI hardware universe. Fresh off a January 2026 CES keynote packed with product reveals, the company is signaling its next chapter isn’t just about making faster chips; it’s about owning the entire AI stack. Morningstar analyst Brian Colello noted that Nvidia’s AI roadmap is “full steam ahead” with the upcoming Vera Rubin AI platform “expected to deliver five times the performance of current-generation Blackwell products for certain AI inference tasks.”
Despite market jitters about a possible AI bubble, Colello reiterates a $240 fair value estimate, arguing that Nvidia’s demand seems healthy and AI bubble concerns are “overdone.” Revenue in the third quarter for fiscal year 2026 was $57 billion, a 22% increase over the previous quarter and 62% higher than the previous year. The company also reported record data center revenue of more than $51 billion for the quarter, 66% higher than the previous year. For investors, Nvidia isn’t just riding the AI wave; it’s shaping the shoreline.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Amazon is leaning hard into the next phase of cloud and AI infrastructure, and its latest quarterly results show why. Net sales rose 14% year over year to $213.4 billion, with all segments ahead of Morningstar’s expectations.
Romanoff called the results “good, with upside on top and bottom lines.” He noted that consumer demand remains steady while AWS once again outperformed — coming in more than $1 billion above his model. AWS growth accelerated to 24% year over year, pushing the business to a $142 billion annual run rate as both traditional cloud workloads and AI adoption continue to surge.
“The surging demand spans both traditional and artificial intelligence workloads and drives management’s decision to accelerate investment into their most important segment,” Romanoff writes.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
Broadcom sits at the center of the AI-infrastructure boom by quietly dominating the plumbing that makes hyperscale data centers actually work. Broadcom is “a prolific generator of cash flow” with a long track record of acquiring businesses, streamlining them and turning them into engines of profit, according to William Kerwin, senior equity analyst for Morningstar.
Its networking chip business is the crown jewel. Kerwin calls it Broadcom’s “strongest” business and the backbone of its wide economic moat, thanks to best?in?class switching and routing chips that move data through AI clusters at blistering speeds. That position is only getting stronger as hyperscalers design their own custom AI accelerators to reduce reliance on Nvidia.
Broadcom continues to throw off enormous cash: Free?cash?flow margins are above 40%, equating to nearly $20 billion annually over the past five years, with Morningstar projections rising toward $50 billion by 2027.
For investors, Broadcom isn’t just participating in the AI buildout; it’s supplying the connective tissue that makes the entire ecosystem possible.
Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (DTCR)
Finally, when investing in any new industry or hot sector, diversification is often the best approach. A single stock may have incredible returns one year, then stagnate or fall the next as it battles fierce competitors. Why put all your bets on one company or REIT, when you could invest in two dozen? This is what DTCR provides.
The data center ETF holds 25 stocks, although the bulk of its assets are in the top 10 names in its portfolio. You’ll also get professional management to ensure your portfolio keeps up with the ever-changing tides in the data center and AI industries. The downside is that the price of this diversification and professional management is a 0.5% expense ratio.
Don’t expect an entirely smooth ride, however. DTCR is still a high-risk and concentrated bet with a tendency toward more volatility than its peers. If you’re bullish on data centers and invested for the long haul, though, it definitely merits a look.
More from U.S. News
10 Best Growth Stocks to Buy for 2026
9 of the Best Bond ETFs to Buy for 2026
7 Best Data Center Stocks, ETFs and REITs to Buy originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 02/17/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
