If you take one thing from this week’s Being Exponential, take this: the AI boom isn’t easing … it’s hardening. And the most asymmetric upside over the next 12–24 months may come from a pocket of the market most investors still overlook.
We’re living a K-shaped reality.
Capital keeps compounding while labor absorbs layoffs. Miss the winners and you’re stuck financing burritos on BNPL (buy now, pay later) while your neighbor’s AI stocks rip to all-time highs.
Earnings keep validating the thesis. Celestica (CLS) – a data-center networking supplier – posted a classic beat-and-raise, with revenues up 28%, AI-related communications up 82%, operating margin up 90 bps, EPS up 52%, and an even stronger Q4 outlook. Rambus (RMBS) shows the same pattern with product revenue (the AI piece) up 41%. Even energy names tethered to AI demand are surprising to the upside.
Most folks crowd into obvious chip leaders. Fine. But second-order beneficiaries – power, uranium, and storage – may deliver better risk/reward as AI’s physical buildout becomes the choke point.
Below I’ll map the three-layer “AI Energy Complex,” flag the two macro tells I’m watching, note a stealth setup in Bitcoin, and end with a standout print. But first, be sure to watch the latest Being Exponential With Luke Lango to learn more. Just click the video below:
The State of the Boom and the K-Shape Widening
Policy missteps (tariff checks with rate cuts) could replay 2020–21 fun followed by a 2022-style bill. Yet the market prices one quarter at a time, and today’s tape says the AI economy is still outrunning “everything-else” America.
Watch credit availability and true labor-market weakness; cracks are forming, but nothing has broken yet. For now, Wall Street rides the winners until the final call.
The signposts on our radar include M&A heating up. September’s ~$670 billion tally was the third-highest month ever, a pattern that often precedes volatility (see 1999, 2007, 2021).
This is a yellow flag, not a stop sign. This run only ends when AI earnings stop beating. We’re not there yet.
How to Play the Physical Buildout: The AI Energy Complex
After the GPU land rush, deal flow is migrating to electrons: generation, grid, and backup. Think a major Westinghouse reactor program; calls for 100 gigawatts of new U.S. capacity per year; and data-center developers using on-site batteries to go live before the grid catches up.
Morningstar pegs 2025–2030 U.S. grid capex at ~$1.4 trillion, which is more than double the prior decade.
Here’s my three-layer framework:
Utilities / IPPs. Own the sellers of electricity AI will buy for years. Favorites include Constellation Energy (CEG) and Vistra (VST).
Nuclear & Uranium. Big reactors and SMRs are back. Buy Cameco (CCJ) for uranium; Global X Uranium ETF (URA) for basket exposure; Oklo (OKLO) and NuScale (SMR) as next-gen reactor names; Centrus Energy (LEU) and BWX Technologies (BWXT) as component suppliers.
Energy Storage / Backup. Data centers can’t go dark. Buy Bloom Energy (BE) for fuel cells; Fluence (FLNC) and Eos Energy (EOSE) for batteries. Storage also accelerates time-to-power: build the battery now, plug into the grid later.
Capex cycles end, but if grid spend really doubles into 2030, we’re in the early innings.
Staying in the Blast Radius of the AI Bazooka
Our “Quantum 4” trades move in sync, but IonQ (IONQ) still leads with deep government contracts and first-mover scale. If Washington backs a winner, it tends to pick the one already entrenched. Expect more practical deployments through 2026.
Meanwhile, the 40-day correlation between Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and gold just turned negative again – a recurring spark in this cycle (Oct. 2023, Feb. 2024, Nov. 2024, Apr. 2025). Each time, Bitcoin rallied hard. I still see room toward the mid-$100Ks before a true decoupling in a risk-off phase.
In the traditional fintech lane, SoFi (SOFI) posted a clean beat-and-raise: members up 35%, products up 36%, and revenue climbing about 40% on widening margins. The one-stop-shop model is working, and cross-sell is compounding.
These setups are tempting, but remember: discipline compounds faster than stories. Use the 200-day moving average as your unemotional exit rule and live to play the next hand.
Bottom line: The AI bazooka is still firing. Stay in the blast radius … especially across power, nuclear, and storage … but keep one eye on credit and jobs, and the other on your 200-day.
That’s how we stay in the game now, and it’s how we’ll be ready to buy when the music stops.
