One of the strongest themes in the markets this year has been the steady flow of investment into AI infrastructure. Semiconductors and memory chip stocks have so far led the charge. VanEck Semiconductor ETF’s lowest price NASDAQ: SMH is up nearly 60% year to date and is trading near an all-time high. Memory stocks like Sandisk NASDAQ: SNDK they were among the most explosive players in the market.
But markets rarely move in straight lines, and capital rarely sits still. As semiconductors and memory shares reach higher rates and expanded technological setups, a natural question arises: where is the next leg of the AI infrastructure going? One reliable answer is the data center and the neocloud layer. Companies that live in reality, power, and use GPU clusters are leveraging the AI economy. There are three words in particular that you should pay attention to right now.
Digital Used: $23 Billion in Contract Revenue and Ongoing Building
Used digital NASDAQ: APLD designs, builds, and operates large AI data center facilities across the United States. The company has been quietly amassing some of the most compelling revenue in the entire AI infrastructure space. The company recently announced a $7.5 billion AI infrastructure lease contract with a third hyperscaler client, pushing its total contract revenue to more than $23 billion.
Digitalization Today
- 52 week interval
- $5.75
▼
$47.79
- Target Value
- $44.67
The company is now in the advanced stages of construction of Delta Forge 1, a massive AI data center campus that marks the next major phase of its construction.
Revenue grew 139.3% year over year in its most recent quarter. The stock is up 90% year-to-date, and has held a steady, steady rise. With a market cap of $12.55 billion and $23 billion in contract revenue, Applied Digital’s revenue visibility, which supports its growth trajectory, is hard to argue with.
Analysts maintain a consensus rating of Average Buy, with a target price of $44.33. A consensus target, which sits close to the current price, indicates the market has moved too quickly for analysts to catch up. Still, with back-end contract activity continuing to grow and hyperscaler demand signaling no sign of softening, the underlying story remains compelling.
IREN: The Certified AI Neocloud With NVIDIA Behind It
IREN NASDAQ: IREN spent 2024 and 2025 implementing one of the most compelling pivots in the digital infrastructure space, from a renewable energy Bitcoin mining operator to a fully certified AI cloud provider. By the time 2026 began, the pivot had already been solidified by a multi-year $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft. NASDAQ: MSFTsigned in November 2025 to use 76,000 NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA GB300 GPUs across the Childress, Texas campus.
IREN Today
- 52 week interval
- $7.85
▼
$76.87
- The P/E ratio
- 114.36
- Target Value
- $71.77
In 2026, the story took another step forward. On May 7, IREN announced a $3.4 billion five-year AI cloud contract with NVIDIA to use Blackwell GPUs across its Childress campus. In line with that, NVIDIA and IREN announced a strategic partnership to use NVIDIA-aligned infrastructure across IREN’s data center pipelines.
As part of the deal, NVIDIA received a five-year option to invest up to $2.1 billion in IREN at $70 per share. The company exited Q3 fiscal 2026 with $3.1 billion in ARR under contract, targeting $3.7 billion by the end of the year, with its 2026 expansion to 480 megawatts on the way and 2027 expansion to 1,210 megawatts already underway.
The stock is up 50% year to date and has gained more than 600% in the past 12 months. But despite that impressive return, it’s still holding on to an attractive bullish consolidation, with $60 as a potential breakout point for investors to watch.
CoreWeave: One of the largest Pure-Play AI cloud providers
CoreWeave NASDAQ: CRWV is the most established and largest name on this list, with a market cap of about $50 billion and annual revenue of $5.13 billion, growing in triple digits year over year.
CoreWeave Today
- 52 week interval
- $63.80
▼
$187.00
- Target Value
- $131.97
Since going public, the company has quickly established itself as an independent GPU cloud provider, offering hyperscale-grade AI computing infrastructure.
CoreWeave’s business model is built on long-term contracted GPU cloud capacity, with Microsoft as its largest customer. In recent times, the company has established a fast-growing partnership with the technology giant, positioning itself as the primary infrastructure provider for Microsoft’s AI systems.
From a technical point of view, in order to convert more money into CRWV directly, the stock will need to clear its recent pivot near $140 to confirm the exit and higher momentum.
Before you consider IREN, you’ll want to hear this.
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