Could This Be the Best Way to Invest in AI Without Buying a Single Chip Stock?
Key Points
Although chip stocks have benefited from the AI spending boom, so has data center infrastructure company Vertiv Holdings.
Vertiv's quarterly organic orders have skyrocketed 252% over the past year.
The stock looks poised to continue growing.
- 10 stocks we like better than Vertiv ›
Chip stocks have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) spending boom.
Of course, the poster child for this success is Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), with its massive 1,220% share price gain over the last five years.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
More recently, other semiconductor companies have seen their share prices soar. Memory chipmaker Micron Technologies' (NASDAQ: MU) stock is up 44.6% year to date, and analog chipmaker Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) is up 21% so far this year.
But what if your portfolio is already full of richly valued chip stocks? Good news: There's another great way to invest in AI without buying a single chip stock ever again.
So many chips, not enough sockets
Even the most advanced AI-ready processor chip can't function without plenty of data. That's why so much of the AI infrastructure buildout has been focused on AI-ready data centers. Not only do these data centers require chips galore, but they also require advanced electrical systems to power them and powerful cooling systems to keep them from overheating.
That's where Vertiv Holdings (NYSE: VRT) enters the picture.
Image source: Getty Images.
Vertiv is an Ohio-based provider of industrial power and cooling systems. Before the start of the AI boom, data centers made up only a small part of its customer base, which included manufacturing, healthcare, and retail facilities. With the explosion of AI data centers, however, the company's entire business model has changed.
Vertiv now describes itself as "a global leader in critical digital infrastructure for applications in data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments." That's hardly surprising, given the numbers it posted in its most recent quarterly earnings report.
Explosive growth
Vertiv's organic orders soared 252% year over year (YOY) in Q4 2025, while its diluted earnings per share jumped 200% from the prior year. Operating cash flow of more than $1 billion was up 136% YOY. Most of this growth was due to high demand for its AI data center systems. CEO Giordano Albertazzi credited the blowout numbers to "Vertiv's leadership position in an increasingly complex and demanding data center market."
Image source: Getty Images.
And that growth doesn't show any signs of slowing. Vertiv now has a record backlog -- orders that are contracted but not yet delivered -- of $15 billion, which is up 109% YOY. Management expects that growth to continue throughout 2026. That aligns with recent research from the Motley Fool stating that data center spending is expected to quadruple from $1 trillion to $4 trillion between 2025 and 2030.
Given all this growth, it's unsurprising that Vertiv's stock price has soared 59% so far in 2026:
However, Vertiv's price-to-earnings ratio of 75 is only just above its three-year average of 67, and its price-to-sales ratio is less than 10, indicating that there's likely still plenty of room for this non-chip powerhouse to grow.
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John Bromels has positions in Micron Technology, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, and Vertiv. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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