AI Data Center Spending Is Outpacing Every Forecast on Wall Street.
These 2 Stocks Are the Best Pick-and-Shovel Plays
In the third quarter of 2025, Goldman Sachs analysts were trying to estimate just how much the technology hyperscalers (Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and others) would spend in 2026 to build out data centers. Their estimate at the time: $465 billion. That was supposed to account for all the monumental spending on artificial intelligence(AI) infrastructure.
But even after they revised their estimate to $527 billion just three months later, they still missed the mark. Hyperscalers now are forecast to devote about $750 billion to capital expenditures (capex) this year — and the number could go higher next year. That’s fantastic news for Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), also called TSMC.