Non-obvious AI choice

The following basket includes three companies that operate closely to technological companies though not being directly ones. Mostly their business is supportive however technological companies cannot fully operate without them. Part of the companies from the basket have already released their earnings for the 2nd quarter of 2026 and 1st half year. Companies were chosen because of the strong financial results both reported and forecasted and due to positive newsfeed, that might favorably impact their results in the future.

PG&E Corporation [Internal score 71/100] sells and distributes electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California. Pacific Gas and Electric anticipated a sharp increase in electricity demand for new data centers in 2025. At the end of 2024, the pipeline of future projects, including cloud storage and AI, was estimated at 5.5 GW, then increased to 8.7 GW midyear. The forecast was ultimately revised to 10 GW. The five-year capital investment plan (2026-2030) includes $73 billion in investments in California’s power grid. PG&E and Microsoft are partners: PG&E powers Microsoft data centers in San Jose County, and PG&E also uses Microsoft software for digital transformation.

Revenue of PG&E Corp for the past quarter was on the level $5.9B, net income amounted to $890 mln vs $673 mln for the same quarter of 2025.

SLB N.V. [Internal score 61/100] engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. SLB uses its oilfield and industrial engineering expertise to tackle AI data center power bottlenecks through modular infrastructure, behind-the-meter power solutions, and digital optimization. Behind-the-meter (BTM) power generation produces electricity directly at or adjacent to the data center, entirely bypassing the public electrical grid. SLB acts as a modular design partner for NVIDIA DSX AI factories.

Revenue of SLB for the past quarter was on the level $8.9B, net income amounted to $830 mln vs $1075 mln for the same quarter of 2025. Free cash flow for the quarter was $900 mln staying positive for 8 quarters.

Iron Mountain Incorporated [Internal score 50/100] is an American data storage, information management, and security giant structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT). Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is unique in its evolution: it has successfully transformed itself from a traditional “paper archive repository” into a major player in the cloud infrastructure and data center market. The company’s historical core is secure physical storage facilities for boxes containing paper documents. Retention Rate exceeds 95%. IRM actively builds and leases gigawatt-scale data centers for hyperscalers (Microsoft, AWS, Google) and enterprises, and also offers digitization services, secure destruction of IT equipment (ALM), and digital data protection. Iron Mountain data center occupancy is approaching 100%, and new capacity is being contracted by big tech companies even during the construction phase.

Company has not yet presented 2nd quarter results though it is expected that revenue will exceed $1.9B (15% y-o-y). Net income is forecasted on the level of $138 mln.

Now looks like a good entry point because the AI build-out is still accelerating: Alphabet and Amazon raised their 2026 spending plans, while Microsoft says cloud capacity will remain tight through year-end. This supports demand for the power, data-centre capacity and off-grid infrastructure these companies provide, while the Fed’s 29 July rate hold avoids another immediate rise in financing costs. PG&E and SLB have already reported supportive Q2 results, and Iron Mountain reports on 5 August, adding a clear near-term catalyst.