As China pours massive amounts of money into artificial intelligence, an unexpected winner has emerged from the investment frenzy: power companies. China invested a whopping $125 billion in AI during 2025, growing 18% from the previous year. While tech companies grab headlines, electricity providers are quietly celebrating their own boom.
Power companies emerge as surprise beneficiaries of China’s $125 billion AI investment surge, riding the electricity-hungry data center boom.
The connection makes perfect sense when you think about it. AI needs massive data centers to work, and these digital powerhouses are incredibly hungry for electricity. China’s data center power capacity is expected to jump 30% by the end of 2025, reaching 30 gigawatts. That’s like adding dozens of small cities worth of electricity demand in just one year.
The numbers tell an impressive story. Leading Chinese internet companies plan to invest over $70 billion in data center infrastructure during 2026 alone. Their capital spending is expected to rise 65% in 2025 to support AI needs. Some companies are planning to increase their data center capacity by ten times before 2032. That’s like going from a small warehouse to a massive distribution center.
About one-third of China’s AI spending through 2030 will focus on physical infrastructure including power systems, metals, and cooling equipment. This surge is so significant that experts now predict the power equipment sector will grow 8% annually through 2030, double their previous forecasts. The government has allocated ¥67 billion specifically for AI chip development, underscoring the massive infrastructure requirements driving power demand.
The government is backing this transformation with smart policies. Their “Eastern Data, Western Computing” plan connects renewable energy from western provinces to data centers in the east. This approach helps reduce fossil fuel dependency while supporting the AI revolution. Copper demand from data centers is expected to grow 20% annually through 2030 as these facilities require extensive metal infrastructure for servers and energy systems.
Stock markets are taking notice. Chinese energy stocks related to AI infrastructure rallied 10% in October 2025, outperforming broader market indexes. Seven of the top ten benchmark gainers were AI infrastructure companies, including power equipment manufacturers. Artificial intelligence adoption could boost productivity and impact corporate profitability across multiple sectors as these infrastructure investments mature.
Battery makers like CATL are also benefiting, reaching record stock highs after securing major storage orders linked to AI infrastructure. The ripple effects extend to renewable energy companies and electric vehicle battery producers, creating a broad ecosystem of winners in China’s AI-powered transformation.
