Ben McMillan, chief investment officer at IDX Advisors, has identified four AI trade tech stocks from the S&P 1500 that he believes can hold their ground even if the biggest spenders in artificial intelligence suddenly cut their infrastructure budgets.
The screen was prompted by clients who are growing uneasy about concentration risk in the AI trade. Spending from so-called hyperscalers, including Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, on data centres and related infrastructure has underpinned much of the market’s gains. Top hyperscalers are estimated to spend $920 billion in 2027, up from around $750 billion this year, so an abrupt reversal looks unlikely. But clients wanted protection if sentiment shifts.
‘Everybody’s kind of taking profits in the chip space,’ McMillan said. He ran the screen to find companies with genuine AI exposure that are not pure-play semiconductor bets and are not over-reliant on a continuous flow of hyperscaler capital expenditure.
Four AI Trade Tech Stocks That Don’t Live or Die by Hyperscaler Capex
Amazon (AMZN) is an unconventional pick because the company is itself a hyperscaler. Yet AWS also counts rival hyperscalers among its cloud customers, and Amazon’s other revenue lines provide a substantial cushion. ‘AWS is just 18.0% of total revenue,’ McMillan said in an email. ‘The other 82% is retail, third-party seller services, advertising, and Prime subscriptions, which are tied to consumer spending, not enterprise capex cycles. Even if AWS growth halves, ecommerce/ads keep the lights on.’
Equinix (EQIX), a data-centre real estate investment trust, carries natural exposure to AI infrastructure spending. McMillan’s case rests on diversification: the company serves more than 10,000 clients across multiple industries. ‘A hyperscaler pause slows EQIX’s new-build pipeline and bookings momentum, but it doesn’t crater existing revenue,’ he said. ‘This is “real estate landlord” exposure, not “capex equipment supplier” exposure.’
Eaton (ETN) manufactures electrical equipment used in power grids, and the AI buildout has been a meaningful tailwind for its Electrical Americas segment, where data-centre orders were up roughly 240% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, according to Stock Sentinel’s research on ETN. Aerospace contracts and government grid-modernisation programmes provide additional revenue streams that are independent of AI spending cycles. ‘If hyperscaler orders crater, ETN loses the upside in Electrical Americas… but utility grid modernization, aerospace, and reshoring spend keep ~70%+ of the business growing,’ McMillan said.
Eaton has also been building out what Stock Sentinel describes as a ‘chip-to-grid’ strategy. The integration of Boyd Thermal lifted its addressable revenue per megawatt of data-centre capacity from $2.9 million to $3.4 million, broadening the company’s earnings base beyond switchgear and circuit protection alone.
Digital Realty (DLR) rounds out the list. The company, which describes itself as the largest publicly traded US REIT dedicated to data infrastructure on its Digital Realty investor relations page, has occupancy of 93.6% across its Americas data centres, with long-dated existing leases. ‘Americas occupancy is 93.6%, and existing leases are long-dated, so near-term cash flows are protected,’ McMillan said.
Those locked-in leases show up in the financials. Digital Realty reported Core Funds From Operations of $1.86 per share in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from $1.73 per share in the fourth quarter of 2024, and total Funds From Operations of $658 million for the quarter, or $1.89 per share, according to the company’s Q4 2025 earnings release. The year-on-year improvement in Core FFO illustrates the revenue resilience McMillan’s clients are after.
The Investor Behind the Screen
McMillan founded IDX Advisors and has more than 20 years of investment experience. He has served as a portfolio manager on the IDX Adaptive Opportunities fund (COIDX) since November 2022, with an average manager tenure of 3.5 years at the fund, according to Morningstar’s COIDX fund profile.
The common thread across all four AI trade tech stocks is structural insulation: each has revenue streams that continue generating cash even if hyperscaler budgets tighten. For investors still seeking AI exposure but nervous about pure semiconductor plays, the next test will be whether hyperscaler earnings calls in the coming quarters maintain their current capital expenditure guidance or begin to pull it back.