Powerful rally! This Wall Street AI winner with 500% share price jump is not your typical chip stock

GE Vernova has become one of Wall Street's clearest AI-power trades, with the stock rallying over 500% since its spin-off as investors bet that artificial intelligence will need far more electricity, grid equipment and gas turbines than markets had expected.

The company began trading as an independent business on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in April 2024 after its spin-off from General Electric. Its shares now trade above $1,100, giving the power equipment maker a market value of more than $300 billion.

The rally is being driven by the physical side of AI. Data centres need power around the clock. They need turbines, transformers, switchgear and grid equipment. GE Vernova sits in that supply chain through its power and electrification businesses.


The turning point came as investors started looking beyond Nvidia and cloud companies to the next bottleneck in AI infrastructure. Data centres can buy chips, but they still need reliable electricity and grid connections. That has pushed power equipment makers into the AI trade.

First quarter results

GE Vernova's own numbers have added fuel to that view. In its first-quarter 2026 results, the company said orders rose 71% organically to $18.3 billion, helped by strong equipment growth in power and electrification. Its backlog grew by more than $13 billion quarter-on-quarter. The company also said its electrification segment booked $2.4 billion in equipment orders to support data centres in the quarter, more than all of 2025.

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CEO Scott Strazik said demand was accelerating for the company's power and electrification solutions from a broad set of customers. GE Vernova also raised its 2026 guidance, saying it now expects revenue of $44.5 billion to $45.5 billion, adjusted EBITDA margin of 12% to 14% and free cash flow of $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion.

The gas turbine business is another reason behind the rally. GE Vernova said it expects to reach at least 110 GW of combined gas turbine backlog and slot reservation agreements by the end of 2026. Earlier, its gas power equipment backlog and slot reservation agreements had already risen from 62 GW to 83 GW by the end of 2025.

The market is also rewarding GE Vernova’s electrification business. Utilities and data centre developers are spending on grid equipment as power demand rises after years of flat consumption in the US. Reuters reported that demand from data centres and grid infrastructure helped GE Vernova raise its annual revenue and margin forecasts earlier this year.

The company’s Prolec GE acquisition has also added to the story. GE Vernova completed the purchase of the remaining 50% stake in Prolec GE, a grid equipment supplier, strengthening its ability to serve utilities, industrial customers and data centres.

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