In this piece, we discuss the 10 Best AI Data Center Stocks to Buy Now.
The surge in AI data center buildout continued in late January, with demand signals extending beyond Nvidia’s flagship processors. On January 28, 2026, Reuters reported that chipmakers’ shares rose amid renewed demand for AI data center hardware, with Texas Instruments citing strength in power management and signal conversion chips, both of which are essential in data centers.
Meanwhile, new capital spending tied to the physical expansion of AI infrastructure is dominating the headlines. On January 26, 2026, Reuters reported Nvidia’s $2 billion investment in CoreWeave to further add to the capacity of U.S. data centers. CoreWeave aims to achieve 5 gigawatts of capacity by 2030 and will use the funds received for infrastructure requirements, such as procuring land and power.
Reuters warned that risks remain despite strong long-term visibility. Among several macro-level and sector-driven headwinds, the report cited persistent memory shortages, geopolitical uncertainty, and exposure to trade and tariffs as key risks. At the same time, sector-wide earnings continue to gain from the AI boom. Reuters cited LSEG data showing that U.S. technology earnings were projected to grow by roughly 27% in the fourth quarter, while the broader S&P 500 was predicted to rise 9.2%. This reflects the massive contribution AI-related players make to corporate profits.
With this background in mind, we will now look at the best AI data center stocks to buy now.
Our Methodology
To create our list of the 10 best AI data center stocks to buy now, we relied on the financial media to extract a list of all AI data center stocks. Next, we selected stocks with strong analyst sentiment and with at least 15% upside potential, as of January 30, 2026. From this pool, we focused on stocks with the best hedge fund sentiment using Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, which tracks 978 stocks as of Q3 2025. Our list is sorted in ascending order by each stock’s upside potential.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)
Upside Potential: 17.51%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) confirmed on January 19, 2026, that it will be entering Malaysia by acquiring CSF Advisers, the owners of the TelcoHub 1 data center in Cyberjaya, a major hub for Greater Kuala Lumpur. Supported by over 6,000 fiber cores, the operational facility offers 1.5 megawatts of IT load. The facility, one of Malaysia’s most network-dense locations, houses more than 40 network service providers, offering accessibility to key platforms including AWS, Google, MY IX, and DE-CIX ASEAN.
To create a clear runway for growth, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) plans to acquire land adjacent to the data center to accommodate up to 14 megawatts of additional capacity. The closing of the deals is anticipated in the first half of 2026.
Amid AI- and cloud-driven workload advancements, the Malaysian campus will be incorporated into Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)’s PlatformDIGITAL and feature ServiceFabric. With this, the company will work on improving interconnectivity, scalability, and regional reach throughout Southeast Asia.
On January 14, 2026, Scotiabank reduced its price target for Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) from $206 to $189 while maintaining its ‘Outperform’ rating. The update came as part of the firm’s revisit to its U.S Real Estate & REITs coverage ahead of the Q4 earnings season. The firm believes that buy-side sentiment is improving in two subsectors, Self-Storage and Multifamily, and that both are unlikely to fall short of FY26 estimates.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR), a data center REIT, offers colocation, interconnection, and dark fiber infrastructure to network carriers, cloud providers, and firms supporting AI, cloud computing, and digital transformation worldwide.
9. American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)
Upside Potential: 19.92%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75
As of January 30, 2026, over 70% of analysts remain bullish on American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT), implying a 19.92% upside potential.
On January 20, 2026, UBS maintained its Buy rating on American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) and lowered its price target from $260 to $254, citing a favorable risk-reward outlook for tower companies in 2026.
Similarly, on January 14, American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)’s ‘Outperform’ rating was reiterated by Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi, who also lowered the firm’s price target from $248 to $220.
Scotiabank’s revised target on American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) came as part of the U.S. real estate and REITs outlook, ahead of Q4 results. Meanwhile, the firm’s favorable 2026 projections stem from strong investor demand for multifamily and self-storage assets.
In addition, on January 12, JPMorgan continued to rate American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) Overweight. At the same time, the price target for the stock was lowered from $250 to $245 due to concerns associated with EchoStar. These headwinds are expected to adversely affect the tower business segment.
American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) focuses on managing a portfolio of multitenant communications infrastructure assets and providing colocation services, serving as a tenant-neutral host. The company owns and operates data centers through its subsidiary CoreSite.
8. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Upside Potential: 25.37%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 332
On January 28, 2026, KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson reaffirmed his Overweight rating and increased his price target for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) from $303 to $308. The firm’s bullish stance reflects improvements in the company’s revenue and EPS projections for 2026 and 2027.
According to KeyBanc, market projections continue to overestimate possible risks from agentic commerce and advertising-related pressures. Furthermore, the firm says projections are underestimating the rate of AWS re-acceleration in 2026. While investors continue to reassess the durability of Amazon’s cloud and consumer ecosystems, the analyst pointed toward growing momentum in the grocery market. Accordingly, the firm includes Amazon as its top large-cap idea across the Internet and Retail sector.
Moreover, on January 28, 2026, Reuters reported that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced 16,000 corporate layoffs. This move is part of the company’s plan to cut roughly 30,000 posts (10% of its corporate workforce) since October. Management presented the layoffs as part of an attempt to increase ownership and decrease bureaucracy, reinforcing its broader push toward efficiency and automation.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) focuses on operating global e-commerce and cloud platforms that include online retail, advertising, subscriptions, and Amazon Web Services.
7. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Upside Potential: 30.80%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 234
A Reuters report published on January 28, 2026, reported that Chinese authorities confirmed the purchase of more than 400,000 NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) H200 Artificial Intelligence chips by three major digital giants: ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent. This appears to reflect a calculated change in Beijing’s attitude toward cutting-edge U.S. semiconductors.
Beijing’s efforts to balance its growing AI infrastructure with its push to advance domestic chip development are reflected in the approvals granted during NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to China, with the conditions yet to be finalized. Even though U.S. authorities allowed Nvidia to export the H200 to China, Beijing maintains final authority. In the past, China has blocked shipments and required foreign chip purchases to be paired with domestic alternatives.
Chinese companies are reportedly placing orders for more than two million H200 chips, far exceeding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s existing supply, indicating that demand is still strong. While policy restrictions add an element of uncertainty to the pace and volume of future shipments, the H200, which offers about six times the performance of NVIDIA’s H20 chip, has become crucial to China’s race to scale data centers and compete with U.S. AI leaders.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) develops GPUs and accelerated computing platforms for gaming, data centers, networking, automotive, and AI software. With these, the company enables high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads for businesses, cloud providers, developers, and consumers worldwide.
6. Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM)
Upside Potential: 35.68%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
On January 13, 2026, Barclays raised its price target for Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) from $123 to $126, while reiterating an Overweight rating on the stock. As part of its 2026 outlook, the firm updated ratings and expectations for the real estate investment trust group. Within the sector, the firm sees the highest growth in apartments, storage, and single-family rentals in 2026. Meanwhile, the firm projects the weakest growth for cold storage and retail segments.
Earlier, on January 7, 2026, Trust Securities maintained its Buy rating and $110.00 price target on Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM). The update comes amid expectations that data center megawatt leasing will reaccelerate in the fourth quarter of 2026. Furthermore, the firm’s financial performance will be supported by the restructuring expenses of Project Matterhorn. These expenses, totaling roughly $150 million, are expected to roll off in 2026. In the previous two months, Trust Securities has seen AI bubble concerns weigh on Iron Mountain, resulting in a larger multiple contraction than peers.
The firm is particularly bullish on Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM)’s Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) business, which is active in the fragmented $55 billion IT asset disposition industry, where the company is racing toward achieving the highest market share. According to the firm, the ALM segment could account for around 17% of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM)’s revenue by 2030 (almost $2 billion). The business’s current share in the overall revenue stands at only 9%.
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) provides storage and information management services. The company’s key segments include Global Records & Business, the Global Data Center Business, and Corporate & Other Business.
5. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Upside Potential: 39.15%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 183
BofA, in a note dated January 26, 2026, set out the semiconductor market as “stretched semicaps, compelling compute, and half-full analog,” emphasizing compute as the most desirable segment. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was listed as one of BofA’s top four compute stocks, alongside Nvidia, AMD, and Credo.
The group currently trades at about 24x CY27 earnings, or 0.5x PEG, which BofA considers a compelling valuation backdrop. Looking ahead, the firm anticipates that this group will generate average sales growth of 42% and adjusted EPS growth of 49% between 2025 and 2027. Expectations that hyperscale cloud providers will reiterate the “mission-critical need” to invest in compute infrastructure support the thesis as well. Meanwhile, BofA’s tracker indicates that cloud capex will grow by 38% year-over-year in 2026, possibly reaching 50%+ by year’s end, while overall free cash flow is still positive.
On January 15, 2026, Wells Fargo upgraded Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) to Overweight, raising its price target from $410 to $430. This comes amid improved entry points and higher revenue projections for AI semiconductors. Earlier, on January 9, 2026, Bernstein demonstrated confidence in Broadcom’s leadership in ASICs despite growing AI competition, reiterating an ‘Outperform’ rating with a $475 target.
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) focuses on designing and supplying semiconductors and infrastructure software. The company serves the data center, networking, broadband, wireless, and enterprise markets with advanced chip solutions and mission-critical software platforms that support cloud, AI, and connectivity.
4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Upside Potential: 40.60%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 312
According to Reuters, on January 26, 2026, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) introduced the second-generation of its in-house artificial intelligence processor, Maia 200, as well as new software tools aimed at narrowing one of Nvidia’s strongest competitive moats among developers. The Maia 200, a step up from the initial Maia microprocessor released in 2023, will go online this week at a data center in Iowa, with a second site scheduled for Arizona. The chip is manufactured by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology that features high-bandwidth memory and a large allocation of SRAM, which can boost performance for AI inference workloads such as chatbots that handle major user traffic.
In addition to the hardware, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will offer a software stack that includes Triton, an open-source tool with major contributions from OpenAI. This step will address the same programming layer that has long been dominated by Nvidia’s CUDA, reflecting Microsoft’s larger strategy to cut reliance on external suppliers as cloud customers scale AI workloads.
On the other hand, in January 2026, Mizuho cut its price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) from $640 to $620 while retaining an ‘Outperform’ rating. This reduction stems from its analysis of broader coverage of the software sector during this earnings season, with an emphasis on AI-led disruption as a source of concern. Around the same time, Citi lowered its target from $690 to $660, reiterating a Buy rating. The bank believes that although Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure business is expected to remain strong, its other businesses face headwinds related to the PC market’s decline, citing partner and channel checks.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) focuses on developing and supporting software, cloud services, and solutions spanning productivity, intelligent cloud, and personal computing.
3. Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS)
Upside Potential: 42.35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
BofA started coverage of Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) on January 28, 2026, with a buy rating and $400 price target. Celestica, a leading provider of white-box switches, will benefit from a solid development in custom ASIC-accelerated servers and an AI-driven upgrade boom for high-speed data center switches. Hence, FY27 is expected to be a strong year, driven by continued gains in market share and the launch of multiple new programs.
Furthermore, in response to a DigiTimes report stating that Inventec will play a bigger part in Google’s (GOOGL) TPU manufacturing, RBC Capital reaffirmed its ‘Outperform’ rating and $400 price target for Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS). However, following this report, Celestica shares fell on the view that Inventec plans to considerably increase its AI server production capacity in 2026.
Yet this drop was seen as an overreaction by RBC Capital as Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) successfully maintains the bulk of TPU assembly volumes to date amid increased production yields. The company is projected to be well-positioned to continue benefiting from strong hyperscaler demand momentum through 2027, despite the fact that competition and share shifts are always concerns that could undermine Celestica’s future growth trajectory.
Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS), founded in 1994 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, delivers supply chain solutions worldwide to equipment manufacturers and service providers.
2. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)
Upside Potential: 44.62%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
In a January 20 report, Reuters said that a “perfect storm” of slowing enterprise demand, rising component costs, and elevated valuations is expected into 2026, especially after Morgan Stanley downgraded the U.S. IT hardware sector to cautious. According to the firm’s survey, hardware budgets are growing at just 1% year-over-year in 2026, the weakest non-COVID reading in roughly 15 years. Meanwhile, a separate reseller survey suggested that 30%-60% of customers could cut planned PC, server, and storage purchases if price hikes persist. Despite AI-related demand continuing to be a structural tailwind, Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) shares declined along with peers as worries about softer corporate spending, tariff-related uncertainty, and the possibility of downward earnings revisions grew.
Furthermore, Barclays’ company-specific optimism contrasts with caution. On January 15, 2026, the company maintained its $148 price target while upgrading Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) from Equal Weight to Overweight. Barclays underscored substantial upgrade potential across Dell’s installed base by indicating strength in AI server orders, steady AI operating margins, disciplined opex management, and recovery in enterprise server and storage markets.
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) develops and sells enterprise IT solutions, including servers, storage, networking, and PCs, to support enterprise, cloud, and AI workloads globally through integrated hardware, software, and services platforms.
1. Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO)
Upside Potential: 83.59%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56
On January 26, 2026, BofA described the semiconductor industry as increasingly bifurcated, noting that although some areas of the market appear stretched, some compute names still offer asymmetric upside. As hyperscale clients place a high value on performance-per-watt and connectivity efficiency, Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO) was identified as one of four businesses best suited for long-term AI-driven infrastructure buildouts. Furthermore, BofA stressed that compute-focused vendors are still heavily dependent on structural cloud investment. According to its tracker, cloud capex will grow by 38% year-over-year in 2026 and could reach 50%+ by the year’s end. The company reported that free cash flow throughout the ecosystem is still positive despite increased spending. The cash flow strength bolsters investor confidence in the ongoing implementation of cutting-edge networking and interconnect solutions as AI workloads grow.
On January 21, 2026, Rosenblatt initiated coverage of Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO) with a Neutral rating and a $170 price target, amid a favorable industry backdrop. Thanks to the company’s early leadership in 400G and 800G connectivity and traction in short-reach AI data center architectures, Rosenblatt predicts that the company’s revenue will almost triple and its earnings will more than quadruple in fiscal 2026. However, the firm warns of competitive pressure that is likely to increase.
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO) delivers connectivity solutions and products for the data infrastructure market, supplying integrated circuits, SerDes chiplets, and active electrical cables that enable efficient data transmission in cloud and networking environments.
While we acknowledge the potential of CRDO to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRDO and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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