WEEX Labs: In the second half of AI, is it the "old economy"

Intel CEO Chen Li-Wu recently gave a central judgement, in an interview with the podcast No Priors, to subvert the inherent perception of the market: AI's bottlenecks are long beyond GPU。

He pointed out that industrial systems such as electricity supply, heat-discretion cooling, new materials, sealing manufacturing, etc. were becoming a real neck chain。

IN FACT, ACCORDING TO NUMEROUS REPORTS, THE DATA CENTRE'S CONSUMPTION OF ELECTRICITY IS ENDLESS, AND THE EXPANSION OF THE ELECTRICITY GRID, THE CONSUMPTION OF BASIC MATERIALS SUCH AS COPPER AND RARE SOIL, AND THE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING CAPACITY THAT BINDS TENS OF BILLIONS OF TRANSISTORS TOGETHER, ARE BECOMING A REAL “LIFE PORTAL” TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AI。

CHEN'S POINT OF VIEW REVEALS A CLEAR INVESTMENT LINE — THE SECOND HALF OF AI — NOT ONLY GPU, BUT ALSO HEAVY ASSETS DOMINATED BY ELECTRICITY, MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING, AND A LONG-TERM “PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE WAR”。

WEEX Labs, inspired by Intel's point of view, broke down the key American stockmarks under this trend, and split the plate into the core American labels under this trend。

PS: TO ATTRACT MORE TRADITIONAL INVESTORS AND ENCRYPTED USERS TO EXPERIENCE U.S. STOCK TRADING, WEEX OFFERS $30,000 AWARD POOLS, AND OFFERS A "FIRST-IN-A-PART PAYMENT FOR US STOCK TRADING" CAMPAIGN TO PROVIDE USERS WITH A "SOFT-FOR-PROFIT" OPPORTUNITY. PARTICIPATION ENTRANCE:https://www.weex.com/zh-CN/events/promo/wxt-stocks

ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY NETWORKS: "BLOOD" BY AI

Construction EnergyMarket value: approximately $99 billion

Main business: United States largest nuclear power operator and carbon-free energy generator。

CORE ADVANTAGES: NUCLEAR POWER IS THE ONLY ENERGY SOURCE THAT CAN PROVIDE 24/7 ZERO CARBON “BASIC CHARGE POWER”. WITH THE TECHNOLOGY GIANT CRAZY AND LONG-TERM POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT (PPA), CEG BECAME THE MOST DIRECT BENEFICIARY WITH A HUGE NUCLEAR MATRIX. IN 2026, THE Q1 BATTALION RECEIVED $11.1 BILLION (LARGELY OVER-PROJECTED) AND THERE WAS ROOM FOR UPWARD VALUATION IF PPA CONTINUED TO LAND。

GE Vernova (GEVON)market value: approximately $30 billion

Main operations: Global power giants with core products including gas turbines, grid equipment and storage systems。

CORE ADVANTAGES: NATURAL GAS GENERATION BECOMES A KEY TRANSITION OPTION WHEN RENEWABLE ENERGY DOES NOT MEET THE NEEDS OF THE AI BASE. GEV OCCUPIES A MONOPOLY POSITION IN THE GLOBAL GAS TURBINE MARKET. AT THE END OF THIS YEAR, ITS GAS POWER ORDERS SURGED TO 100 GW, WITH A PROJECTED BACKLOG OF AT LEAST 110 GW AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE CERTAINTY。

Eatonmarket value: approximately $164 billion

Main business: The world's leading smart power management company, covering the entire chain from grid to chip。

CORE STRENGTHS: POWER DISTRIBUTION, CIRCUIT PROTECTION AND LIQUID COOLING INTEGRATION PROGRAMMES FOR DATA CENTRES. DRIVEN BY THE STRONG DEMAND IN THE AI DATA CENTRE, Q1 WON A DOUBLE-PREGNANCY IN 2026, THE COMPANY MOVED THE YEAR-ROUND ORGANIC GROWTH DIRECTION UPWARDS TO 10 PER CENT, AND EXPECTS THE EBITDA GROWTH RATE TO CLIMB TO 18-24 PER CENT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR。

Vistra (VSTON):: Market value: approximately $56 billion

Main operations: the largest unregulated power producer and retail energy supplier in the United States。

Core advantages: Possession of 44 GW power generators (including natural gas, nuclear power, etc.) serving nearly one third of Texas ' s electricity consumers. The recent signing of a major nuclear power supply agreement with Meta and the acquisition of Cogentrix's new 5.5 GW gas installation are the core beneficiaries of the AI electricity outbreak。

Oklo (OKLOON):: Market value: approximately $10 billion

MAIN OPERATIONS: SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR REACTOR (SMR) PIONEER DEVELOPER。

Core advantages: Main hit the “Aurora Powerhouse” fission power plant, using the “nuclear power is service” long-term contract model. Although at an early stage, its AI data centre enjoys a very high elastic premium for long-term narratives of clean, reliable base-charge electricity。

DATA CENTRE PHYSICAL FACILITIES AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT: "BONES AND DISSIPATION" BY AI

Vertiv Holdings (VRTON):: Market value: approximately $138.0 billion

Main operations: Critical infrastructure for global data centres and absolute lead for liquid cooling/thermal management。

Core advantages: The liquid cooling changes from "optional" to "necessary" as the AI chip is exhausted. Vertiv owns an order backlog of about $15 billion and is jointly developed with NVIDIA. The recent completion of two successive strategic acquisitions of heat management has further consolidated its dominance in the field of high-performance computing heat dispersion。

Equinix (EQIXON)Market value: approximately $110 billion

Main operations: the largest global data centre REITs (real estate trust), which provides hosting and interconnection services。

Core strengths: Operation of 260 data centres in 71 markets worldwide. As an "tenant" of AI computing infrastructure, Equinix directly benefits from AI cluster expansion needs. Higher power density means higher rent for single cabinets, with a double-button between rent and increased capacity。

CoreWeave (CRWVON):: Market value: approximately $60 billion

MAIN OPERATIONS: CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE PLATFORM FOR AI LOADS, GPU COMPUTING LEASE, AI RAW CLOUD SERVICE AND DATA CENTRE HOSTING。

Core Advantages: Depth binding with NVIDIA, with clients covering head AI players like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Microsoft. As of 2026 Q1, the collection backlog (income backlog) amounted to $99.4 billion and the annual collection guide $12-13 billion. As an "exact" player in pure AI computing infrastructure, CoreWeave benefits directly from the wave of AI from training to reasoning。

KEY RAW MATERIALS: THE "BUILDING BLOCKS" OF AI

Freeport-McMoRan (FCXON)Market value: approximately $99 billion

Main business: One of the world ' s largest publicly listed copper producers。

CORE ADVANTAGES: COPPER IS THE “BLOOD” OF THE ERA OF ELECTRIFICATION. FROM GRID UPGRADES, TRANSFORMER MANUFACTURES TO INTERNAL WIRING IN DATA CENTRES, AI CALCULATES THAT EVERY LINK OF THE EXPANSION IS DEPENDENT ON A MASSIVE COPPER RESOURCE. IN THE DIFFICULT CONTEXT OF NEW MINE APPROVALS, THE FCX, WITH ITS HIGH-QUALITY COPPER MINE ASSETS, HAS LONG BENEFITED FROM THE SUPERCYCLE OF COPPER DEMAND TRIGGERED BY AI。

MP Materials (MPON)market value: approximately $10 billion

Main operations: The largest producer of rare earth elements in the Western Hemisphere, with the only active large-scale rare earth mine in the United States。

CORE STRENGTHS: RARE EARTH IS THE CORE MATERIAL FOR AI ROBOTICS TO SERVE ELECTRICS, HIGH-PERFORMANCE CHIPS AND ADVANCED CONTAINMENT. 2026 Q1 HAS A RECORD PRODUCTION OF OXIDIZERS. MP, THE ONLY HOME-GROWN RARE-EARTH SUPPLY CHAIN ENTERPRISE IN THE UNITED STATES, FITS PERFECTLY WITH THE EUROPEAN-AMERICAN “SUPPLY CHAIN SECURITY” STRATEGY, WITH AN EXTREMELY HIGH GEOSTRATEGIC PREMIUM。

Concluding remarks

CHEN'S POINT OF VIEW HAS BROKEN THE ILLUSION THAT "AI NEEDS MORE GPU" — THAT AI'S PROSPERITY IS SINKING DEEP INTO THE PHYSICAL WORLD — ELECTRICITY, MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING IS NO LONGER THE TRADITIONAL “OLD ECONOMY”, BUT IS SUPPORTING THE CORE OF AI'S SKYSCRAPERS。

THESE INDUSTRIAL GIANTS HAVE MORE RESILIENT AND LONG-TERM COMBINED GROWTH POTENTIAL THAN PURELY CONCEPTUAL UNITS, BUT THE CURRENT VALUATION REFLECTS SOME OPTIMISTIC EXPECTATIONS THAT INVESTORS NEED TO COMBINE MACRO-INTEREST RATES, PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTATION AND GEO-FACTORS, DYOR。