The major indexes, gold, and bitcoin all continued their march higher last week, even as cracks appeared under the surface from a weakening labor market, sticky inflation, and rising investor pessimism.

In my view, Oracle’s big move likely priced in a lot of its near-term upside. The more attractive opportunities may lie with other AI infra names trading at more reasonable valuations. I am especially focused on the adoption layer, where AI will actually be embedded into enterprise and real-world workflows.

As seen in Oracle’s latest earnings, demand for AI and cloud infrastructure is booming. This surge is fueling a massive buildout of data centers worldwide. The global market is projected to grow from about $350B today to $650B by 2030.

Here are the key components that go into building them, and the companies leading the way:

🔨 Construction

Physical shells designed to house the entire operation. Designed for resilience, scalability and security.

DPR Construction, Jacobs Solutions (J)

⚡️Power

Power grid connections, backup generators, and UPS systems. Data centers consume massive electricity, with demand expected to more than double by 2030, requiring a future mix of traditional, renewable and nuclear energy options.

Eaton (ETN), NRG Energy (NRG), Schneider Electric (SU)

✨ Compute

The processing core containing racks of servers with CPUs, GPUs, and accelerators. NVIDIA and AMD dominate AI compute, while Broadcom’s networking and custom silicon help hyperscalers link chips into unified high-performance systems.

System Vendors : Dell (DELL), HP Ent (HPE)

🔗 Networking

Switches, routers, fiber optics, and custom silicon that keep data flowing seamlessly inside and outside centers.

Cisco (CSCO), Arista Networks (ANET)

❄️ Cooling

Advanced systems (air, liquid, immersion) that control immense heat loads generated from thousands of servers, boosting efficiency.

🏢 Vertiv (VRT), Johnson Controls (JCI)

The Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision will be front and center next week. Traders see a 92% chance of a 25 basis point cut, which would lower the federal funds rate to a 4.00-4.25% range. Also in focus will be the Fed’s updated projections and its dot plot, which shows how officials expect interest rates to evolve. Beyond monetary policy, economic data, earnings, and geopolitics will be in focus.

_{Fed Funds Rate : The benchmark US interest rate that influences borrowing costs on mortgages, credit cards, and business loans.}

Qualcomm is a leading semiconductor and wireless technology company, best known for its Snapdragon processors and 5G modems in smartphones. It also earns high-margin licensing revenue from its patent portfolio, and is expanding into automotive, IoT, and edge computing, positioning itself as a diversified player in connectivity and AI.

Unlike NVIDIA and Broadcom, which have surged on AI compute demand, Qualcomm remains tied to the cyclical smartphone market. As a result, it trades at a forward P/E of ~14, well below the sector average of ~35–40. With ongoing diversification into IoT and edge computing, and AI capabilities being embedded into Snapdragon platforms, Qualcomm could offer investors a more attractive entry point into semis at a reasonable valuation.

Qualcomm has been consolidating just below a key resistance level of 162.50 for nearly four months. During this time, it has climbed above its 21, 50 and 200 day moving averages, signaling rising momentum. A breakout above resistance could set the stock on a medium-term uptrend.

Confluent is a leading real-time data streaming company. It helps businesses process large amounts of real-time data, instead of storing it first and processing it later (batch processing). For example, a ride-sharing app uses Confluent to process real-time location data, traffic updates, and rider information to match a passenger with the closest driver in seconds.

Founded by the creators of Apache Kafka, Confluent’s platform connects easily to many systems, works across cloud or on-prem setups, and includes strong data controls, creating high switching costs for customers. New AI tools like Flink make it even more valuable for real-time analytics.

In its most recent earnings, Confluent reported 21% YoY subscription growth and 28% cloud growth, but revenue missed expectations and guidance was cautious, leading to a nearly 30% stock drop. Still, Flink’s ARR tripled, Confluent Platform revenue grew 12%, and the company holds $1.9B in cash with positive free cash flow.

Cloud revenue is slowing due to spending cut-backs certain from customers, and competition from the likes of Snowflake and Redpanda. However, Confluent is managing this by expanding AI-driven services like Flink and strengthening hybrid offerings. On its balance sheet, Confluent holds ~$1.9B in cash but also carries ~$1.1B in convertible debt, creating dilution risk if converted.

Ali is a full-time equity trader and investor based in Dubai, and the founder of First Mile Investing. He left his corporate career in 2024 to pursue his passion for the markets. He founded First Mile Investing to help beginners take their first confident steps into investing, with the goal of making the process less intimidating, more accessible, and empowering for everyone.