After a year when artificial intelligence megacaps dominated stock screens, the world’s largest asset manager is telling clients to look elsewhere for the next leg of AI gains. BlackRock now argues that the most powerful beneficiaries of the technology in 2026 will not be the software platforms and chip designers that led in 2025, but the energy providers and infrastructure owners that keep AI’s data centers running. The shift reflects a simple reality: the more AI scales, the more it looks like a story about power grids, pipelines and fiber, not just algorithms.
From AI darlings to the “picks and shovels” trade
BlackRock has spent the past year watching investors crowd into the same handful of AI champions, then quietly preparing clients for a rotation into the utilities and infrastructure that sit behind them. Its latest guidance argues that the most durable AI exposure now lies in the companies that generate and transmit electricity, build networks and supply power to data centres, rather than the big tech names that already dominate benchmarks. In its analysis, more than half of surveyed investors expect energy providers to be the primary winners from AI in the year ahead, a striking reversal from the software and semiconductor focus that defined the year gone by.
The firm’s own messaging has hardened accordingly. In commentary attributed to By James Darley, BlackRock stresses that investors who want AI exposure should increasingly think about grids, pipelines and the assets that supply power to data centres, not just the applications that sit on top of them. That view is echoed in its broader Investment Directions work, which frames energy and infrastructure as the most compelling way to capture the AI theme in 2026. The pivot is not a rejection of technology, it is a recognition that the next phase of AI growth will be constrained or enabled by the physical systems that feed it, a point underscored in BlackRock’s own analysis of how AI demand is reshaping power markets.
Electricity demand turns utilities into AI proxies
The core of BlackRock’s argument is that AI is an energy story. Training and running large models requires vast computing clusters, and those clusters are voracious power users. One assessment notes that Massive quantities of electricity are required for the next generation of computer chips used in AI, and that AI data centers require a lot of power relative to conventional facilities. That surge in consumption is already forcing utilities and grid operators to rethink capacity planning, and it is why BlackRock sees regulated power companies and independent generators as direct beneficiaries of the AI boom rather than peripheral players. The firm’s guidance, echoed in detailed commentary on AI’s power needs, is that these companies now function as de facto AI plays.
Forecasts for the scale of that demand are eye catching. One investment bank cited by Tsvetana Paraskova estimates that the jump in electricity demand from AI data centers would be the equivalent of adding another Top 10 power-consuming country to the grid, a change described as the biggest increase in electricity demand since the 1990s. That projection, set out in energy demand research, helps explain why utilities that once traded like sleepy income stocks are suddenly being recast as growth vehicles. If AI adds the equivalent of a major industrial nation’s consumption to global grids, the companies that can build and finance that capacity stand to enjoy years of elevated capital spending and potentially stronger pricing power.
Investment Directions: energy and infrastructure over big tech
BlackRock has codified this thinking in its Investment Directions report, which finds that investors positioning for AI-driven growth into 2026 are showing a clear preference for energy and infrastructure over big tech. According to BlackRock’s Investment Directions, portfolios seeking AI exposure are tilting toward utilities, pipelines, grid operators and data center landlords as the most attractive way to ride the theme. That shift is not just anecdotal; it reflects survey work and flows that show capital moving from the crowded AI leaders of 2025 into the companies that build and maintain the physical backbone of the digital economy, a trend captured in recent market analysis.
That preference is also visible in how BlackRock describes its own strategy. A separate assessment notes that BlackRock (BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, is shifting its AI focus from Big Tech to Energy and Infrastructure Stocks, arguing that the companies that build and operate power plants, transmission lines and data center campuses now offer a more compelling investment opportunity in AI than the mega-cap platforms that led markets through 2025. The firm’s repositioning, outlined in detailed coverage, is a signal to institutional clients that the easy AI trade is over and that the next phase will reward those willing to own the less glamorous, capital intensive parts of the ecosystem.
Data centre buildout and the geopolitics of power
Nowhere is the convergence of AI and energy more visible than in the race to build hyperscale data centres. BlackRock’s own commentary highlights that investors are betting big on energy infrastructure that supports these facilities, particularly in markets where grid capacity is tight and permitting is slow. Reporting By Ben Craske, for example, describes how BlackRock is steering capital toward assets in New York and other hubs that can deliver reliable power to hyperscale data centres, underscoring that the bottleneck for AI is increasingly measured in megawatts rather than server racks. That focus on the physical footprint of AI is captured in data centre focused that tracks how power availability is now a gating factor for AI expansion.
The geopolitical backdrop is pushing investors in the same direction. European policymakers, for instance, have been explicit that the high level of dependence on Russia for gas supply was a risk to security and the economy, and that diversifying energy sources is now a strategic priority. That reassessment, which features in a rundown of top energy stories that also highlights BlackRock’s call on AI-related power demand, reinforces the idea that energy infrastructure is both a security asset and a growth story. For investors, the combination of AI-driven consumption and a policy push to harden grids and reduce reliance on Russia for gas supply creates a powerful tailwind for utilities, midstream operators and grid upgrade projects, a dynamic laid out in recent energy briefings.
Capital flows, corporate alliances and the new AI playbook
BlackRock is not just talking about this shift, it is raising money around it. Together with Microsoft, it has assembled substantial capital for AI infrastructure, with BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) securing a dedicated pool to finance data centers, power projects and related assets. One report notes that BlackRock has raised $12.5 for these efforts, a figure that illustrates how quickly institutional money is moving from abstract AI themes into concrete projects like grid upgrades and server farms. The partnership with Microsoft, detailed in transaction coverage, is a template for how capital-heavy AI infrastructure will increasingly be financed: through alliances between tech platforms that need capacity and asset managers that can marshal long term funding.
Market behavior is already reflecting that new playbook. Tsvetana Paraskova reports that Investors continue to bet on the AI boom, but this year they are directing more capital to utilities and grid operators than to the mega-cap tech names that dominated the markets in recent years. Her analysis, set out in detailed investor note, dovetails with BlackRock’s own observation that investors are backing energy providers over big tech for 2026 AI bets. A separate summary of that trend stresses that investors are looking beyond pure AI investment and see energy providers as a compelling investment opportunity in AI, a conclusion captured in recent market reporting that tracks how capital is rotating.
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