Massive U.S. Data Center Delays and Cancellations Are Good for These 3 AI Stocks

Key Points

IREN has more than 4.5 gigawatts of projects in its pipeline and buys its own Nvidia chips, which allows it to make more lucrative deals with clients.

Cipher Digital operates using a low-risk model since it doesn't have to pay for pricey AI chips.

Nebius has landed lucrative deals (including a $27 billion agreement with Meta Platforms) by offering servers equipped with AI chips and a full software stack.

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Companies are scrambling to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, with big tech leaders pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the industry. Amazon recently said it would invest $25 billion into building data centers in Mississippi. Alphabet announced a $40 billion investment in Texas that will go toward building additional AI data centers.

So money is flowing into the industry, but there is one giant problem: It's easy to start building an AI data center, but it's a lot harder to finish the job. Bloomberg reported that half of U.S. data center projects have been delayed or canceled due to supply shortages and reliance on Chinese imports for key components.

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While those issues are putting hurdles in the way of the AI buildout, they also make existing AI data centers more valuable. Companies that got a head start on constructing infrastructure also have compelling advantages. Those factors make these three AI stocks in particular worth watching.

1. IREN

The more gigawatts of power a data center company can secure for its servers, the more valuable it becomes in the AI buildout phase. IREN (NASDAQ: IREN) has secured more than 4.5 gigawatts of renewable energy for its AI data centers after acquiring a 1.6-gigawatt site in Oklahoma.

IREN has built multiple AI data centers and has secured energy for all of them. Energy is a major bottleneck, and it can take five years for renewable energy projects to make it through the grid interconnection queue. As the backlog grows, it will take even longer for many AI data centers to get access to the reliable energy they require.

IREN currently has 810 megawatts of operating data centers. The company has also said that its Sweetwater 1 1.4-gigawatt site will be energized this month -- another operation that could attract contracts with tech giants.

The company also has $2.3 billion in annual recurring revenue contracted. The headline deal behind that backlog is the five-year, $9.7 billion agreement it signed with Microsoft last November for 200 megawatts of data center load.

IREN commands more value per megawatt than most competitors because it buys Nvidia chips for its AI data centers. Other firms offer the physical infrastructure and invite clients to bring their own chips, which results in a lower value per megawatt. IREN recently bought an additional 50,000 Blackwell Ultra GPUs from Nvidia, bringing its total fleet to more than 150,000 GPUs. Moves like that only make sense if IREN anticipates more demand for its services.

2. Cipher Digital

Cipher Mining (NASDAQ: CIFR), which rebranded itself as Cipher Digital in February, has also secured enough energy for its AI data centers. However, its business model is for its customers to bring their own AI chips instead of buying its own. That gives it a lower-cost, lower-risk model than IREN's, but it results in less lucrative deals. Still, Cipher is doing well.

The company closed 2025 with 3.4 gigawatts of site capacity and has already made good use of several of its projects. For instance, it inked a $5.5 billion, 15-year lease with Amazon for 300 megawatts. That's obviously less per megawatt than IREN's getting for its big Microsoft lease, but Cipher incurs lower costs for each deal.

Cipher recently signed a 15-year deal with a so-far undisclosed hyperscaler tenant for an undisclosed amount of money and megawatts. It would be speculation to guess which hyperscaler it is, but the company already has signed deals with Amazon and Alphabet. And the fact that Cipher is experiencing robust demand demonstrates its competitive edge in the industry.

3. Nebius

Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS) follows the IREN playbook of buying Nvidia chips and commanding higher rates per megawatt. However, Nebius also offers a full software stack for AI training and inference, while IREN lets tech companies run their own software on IREN's infrastructure, similar to how Cipher Digital lets customers bring their own chips.

The company doesn't have as many gigawatts worth of data centers in operation, and expects to exceed 3 gigawatts of contracted power by the end of 2026. However, it also expects up to $9 billion in annual recurring revenue by that time. Nebius has won contracts with many tech companies, including a recent $27 billion deal with Meta Platforms across five years. It's split into a $12 billion deal for current infrastructure and another $15 billion deal that will ramp up as Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform becomes available. The total megawatts to be supplied in that deal were not disclosed.

Nebius also has stakes in several high-growth AI firms, including robotaxi service Avride and open-source database ClickHouse, which had a $15 billion valuation after its January funding round. Those businesses can provide additional gains for long-term Nebius shareholders.

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Marc Guberti has positions in Cipher Mining and Iren. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.