欧洲工业板块是AI交易的重要推动力，占Stoxx 600约五分之一的权重。施耐德电气、ABB等电力基础设施企业报告数据中心需求出现三位数增长并上调业绩预期；Kingspan因数据中心建设强劲动能而大涨。巴克莱在评估约500个数据中心项目后，推荐了Belimo、Alfa Laval、Atlas Copco等具吸引力估值的工业股。
欧洲目前处于AI采用周期的早期阶段，企业资产负债表健康、自由现金流收益率高于美国，且股东回报更高、股票发行量更低。高盛策略师指出，欧洲虽在AI创新初期落后，但历史经验显示，最终受益的往往是善于利用原始投资的后来者，而非率先投入的先行者。欧洲在数据中心建设和能源基础设施方面仍需大量投资，预计将为公用事业带来超级周期。
The European stock market is delivering a surprisingly strong year, powered by its own AI trade. Despite having only about 9% tech exposure versus 44% for the S&P 500, the Stoxx 600 has kept pace with its US counterpart. A Citigroup basket of European AI enablers has surged 46% over the past year with notably lower volatility than the 60% rally in US AI winners.
Europe's industrial sector, the largest Stoxx 600 weighting after financials, is a key beneficiary of the AI trade through data center demand. Power infrastructure firms like Schneider Electric and ABB have reported triple-digit surges in data center orders, while newer winners such as Kingspan are emerging from data center construction momentum. Barclays analysts, after assessing roughly 500 data center projects, identified attractively valued names including Belimo, Alfa Laval, and Atlas Copco.
Europe sits in a strategic sweet spot at the early stages of AI adoption, boasting healthier corporate balance sheets and higher free cash flow yields than the US. Goldman Sachs strategists argue that being a late mover may prove advantageous, as history shows that companies benefiting most from technology waves are often those that capitalize on prior investment rather than those that fund it. Significant spending on data centers and energy infrastructure is expected to trigger a supercycle for European utilities.