AI data centers just made power stocks the new hot trade

Not all AI picks wear hoodies

The market spent 2023 falling in love with Nvidia and the GPU arms race. Now Gene Munster is basically waving a neon sign and saying, “Hey, maybe the real bottleneck is the juice.”

Why? Elon Musk said natural gas will still be needed to supplement solar for years as his companies push huge energy ambitions. In plain English: data centers still need a lot of reliable power, and that’s turning electricity infrastructure into the next big AI trade.

The new “picks and shovels”

Munster’s point is simple: if the AI boom needs more servers, it also needs more megawatts. That’s why he says it makes sense to put new money to work in power — not just semis.

The article points to a few ways investors are already playing that idea:

• Defiance AI & Power Infrastructure ETF, with exposure to GE Vernova, Bloom Energy, and Constellation Energy
• VanEck’s Data Center Supply Chain ETF, which leans into semis, nuclear, data center gear, and power infrastructure
• Utilities via XLU, where names like NextEra, Constellation, and Duke sit in the basket

Why you should care

If Munster is right, this isn’t just a cute sector rotation story. It’s a reminder that AI is a physical-business problem too — wires, turbines, gas, grid upgrades, the whole unglamorous buffet.

Big picture: when the market starts treating electricity like the next scarce commodity, power stocks can go from sleepy to spicy fast.