Quick Read – Caterpillar (CAT) generated $10.2B in data center generator sales last year, representing over 10% of total revenue, with Power Generation revenue hitting $2.817B in Q1 2026 (up 41% year-over-year) as CEO Joe Creed attributed 48% growth to large gensets and turbines…
r data center applications. The company’s backlog surged to a record $63B (up 79% year-over-year in Q1), with large reciprocating engine backlog up more than 3.5x since January 2024, prompting capacity expansion to nearly 3x 2024 levels. – AI data centers require exponentially more power than the current grid can supply, and Caterpillar’s behind-the-meter gas generators are filling the gap for hyperscalers on the infrastructure timeline they actually need. – The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Caterpillar wasn’t one of them
Get them here FREE. There’s a line item sitting on Caterpillar’s financials that does not look like an AI story at first glance. According to Stephen Morris and Andrew Sather on The Investing for Beginners Podcast, Caterpillar generated $10.2 billion in sales last year from generators sold to data centers.
That’s the part of the bull case I keep coming back to. For context, Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) is still mentally filed by most investors under construction and mining equipment. When people screen for AI “picks and shovels,” they reach for chip designers, hyperscaler suppliers, or specialty HVAC names.