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Layer 8 — Power generation & energy supply

Position in the die→grid hierarchy: outside the fence.

Where the power comes from: gas turbines and reciprocating engines behind the meter, fuel cells, nuclear PPAs and SMRs, the utilities and IPPs signing data-center deals, renewables, storage, transmission, and the gas supply chain.

Layer 8 covers everything that turns fuel, fission, or sunlight into electrons before those electrons ever reach a data center's fence line — generation hardware, the utilities and IPPs that contract for it, the transmission and interconnection equipment that moves it, and the gas supply chain that feeds onsite turbines and engines. It hands off to Layer 7 (electrical distribution from the meter to the rack) and Layer 6 (facility cooling), and it sits furthest from the chip of any layer in the taxonomy — which is also why it is the least differentiated: most of this equipment was designed for the broader grid and power industry long before AI load growth, and data centers are simply a new, large, fast-moving customer standing in line behind utilities, industrials, and export terminals. The chain runs from primary energy (gas fields, uranium, sun, wind) through conversion hardware (turbines, engines, reactors, panels, inverters) to the wires and switching gear that carry the output to a site, with utilities and IPPs as the commercial layer that ties generation to a signed data-center deal. The investable choke points cluster at the front of long lead-time equipment queues: gas turbine and HRSG order books, large power transformer and HVDC equipment backlogs, and the handful of firms qualified to build advanced reactor components or enrich fuel. Nuclear and fusion PPAs are optionality bets on entities with long, uncertain timelines rather than near-term revenue. Renewables and storage hardware are comparatively commoditized and price-competitive globally, while transmission EPC and grid-equipment names benefit from a buildout that would be happening with or without AI, just on a longer timeline.

Parts in this layer

Public plays in this layer

Listed companies with the most part placements in layer 8. Placement count is breadth, not revenue exposure.

CompanyTickerParts herePriceMkt cap
Siemens EnergyENR.DE5150 EUR127.8B
GE VernovaGEV5954 USD254.0B
Southern CompanySO389.05 USD102.4B
NextEraNEE383.47 USD174.1B
AEPAEP3123 USD66.8B
XcelXEL277.16 USD48.2B
VistraVST2140 USD46.9B
TalenTLN2305 USD14.6B
Rolls-RoyceRR.L21530 GBp12.62T
PrysmianPRY.MI2124 EUR36.1B
NexansNEX.PA2143 EUR6.2B
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries7011.T24032 JPY13.55T
Kawasaki Heavy7012.T22615 JPY2.28T
EntergyETR2106 USD49.7B
Duke EnergyDUK2121 USD94.2B
Doosan Enerbility034020.KS285500 KRW54.65T
DominionD266.50 USD58.5B
ConstellationCEG2282 USD100.1B
CaterpillarCAT2817 USD375.6B
CamecoCCJ2106 USD46.3B
Baker HughesBKR262.11 USD61.7B
AmerenAEE2107 USD29.6B
WilliamsWMB174.19 USD90.7B
WEGWEGE3.SA150.25 BRL210.8B
WECWEC1106 USD34.6B