Investors remain confident in the long-term promise of artificial intelligence, but their focus is shifting away from headline-grabbing big tech stocks and toward the less
glamorous backbone that powers AI, according to BlackRock.
In its latest ‘Investment Directions’ report published on Tuesday, the world’s largest asset manager said clients looking to position their portfolios for AI growth into 2026 are increasingly favouring energy producers and infrastructure providers rather than Wall Street’s biggest technology names.
The change reflects a broader reassessment of how artificial intelligence will scale globally. While major tech companies continue to dominate AI development, BlackRock said investors are recognising that the real bottlenecks — and opportunities — lie in the physical systems that support it, including data centres, power generation and grid infrastructure.
A recent BlackRock client survey showed strong conviction in the AI theme, with only a small minority of respondents viewing the sector as a potential market bubble. Instead of chasing pure-play AI stocks, many investors are opting for exposure to companies supplying the electricity, hardware capacity and digital infrastructure needed to keep AI systems running.
“AI is no longer just a software story,” the report suggested. “It’s an energy and infrastructure story too.”
That trend is visible in projects such as the Nebius AI UK data centre at Ark Data Centres in Chertsey, Britain, which hosts high-performance computing equipment from NVIDIA and other technology firms. Facilities like these are energy-intensive and rely on stable power supplies, reinforcing investor interest in utilities and infrastructure firms that can meet surging demand.
BlackRock said it continues to see AI as a powerful structural force in markets, but emphasised that future returns may come from a wider ecosystem than investors initially expected.
As AI adoption accelerates, the firm believes the winners of the next phase may not be the companies writing the algorithms, but those ensuring the lights — and servers — stay on. Photo by Jim.henderson, Wikimedia commons.
