This Hidden Power Play Is AI’s Beating Heart

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).

 

In This Digest: 

• Every time you hear about a new data center project, buy these stocks 

• This booming energy play is converging just under its all-time high 

• Did you forget about quantum computing? TradeSmith’s long-term signal is still bullish 

Nvidia’s newest AI megadeal isn’t a chip story – it’s a pipeline story… 

Yesterday, Nvidia (NVDA) said it will back up to $105 billion in financing for a new OpenAI data center campus in Pike County, Ohio.  

Once built, it could pull in as much as 8 gigawatts of power. That’s enough to keep the lights on in as many as 8 million American homes.  

SB Energy, the SoftBank-owned developer, expects the first 800 megawatts online by 2028 under a 20-year lease to OpenAI. Nvidia is even putting an extra $1.5 billion directly into SB Energy to help make sure the power shows up on schedule. 

Every time you see a headline like this, there’s only one rational conclusion to draw.  

Data centers can’t run without immense amounts of power. And this new deal is the latest proof of a theme we introduced three months ago on May 18: the AI Power Pipeline. 

The AI Power Pipeline is all about natural gas power plants becoming the go-to continuous source of power for AI data centers.  

If you can find the best natural gas producers – along with the pipeline owners that move the product around – you’re on the right side of the trend.  

ONEOK (OKE) is the stock that anchored that first Power Pipeline call.  

It moves natural gas and natural gas liquids through one of the country’s largest pipeline networks. And every new gigawatt of AI data center demand – like today’s Ohio deal – is more gas that has to move through pipes like its own to get where it’s needed. 

Take a look at the chart of OKE below, along with our Short-Term Health indicator: 

As regular readers know, Short-Term Health is TradeSmith’s most sensitive trend indicator – it compares a stock’s recent trading to its own history and flags the moment when momentum shifts. Green means buy, Yellow means caution, Red means sell. 

Short-Term Health flashed Red on OKE in February 2025 and stayed there for nearly 10 months while the stock got cut by 30% from its highs.  

Then on Dec. 19, 2025, at a price just under $72, the signal flipped Green. 

OKE hasn’t looked back since. It’s trading at $95.06 today – up more than 32% from that signal. 

OKE remains a clean way to play the AI Power Pipeline theme, and every headline like today’s Ohio announcement reinforces why.  

GE Vernova just confirmed the AI Power Pipeline theme from a different angle… 

GE Vernova (GEV) is another key AI power play.  

It builds the gas turbines, grid equipment, and electrification systems that keep AI data centers running when the power grid alone can’t cut it.  

GEV is interesting because of its technical setup. Right now, it’s one of the most converged stocks in the market.  

Convergence is the proprietary setup built by our master options trader Jeff Clark. He uses it to spot when stocks are about to snap into a fast, forceful move.  

It tracks three proprietary moving average lines for any given stock.  

When those lines squeeze together, the stock is coiled – building energy beneath the surface. When they finally break apart, the move that follows tends to be sharp. 

With that in mind, take a look at the chart of GEV right now: 

The three moving averages in the Convergence signal are coiled tightly together, just as GEV has rallied off the late July lows – which set a higher low from the one in early June.  

It’s also Green on both its Long- and Short-Term Health indicators – a bullish sign of momentum on two key time frames.   

With a Convergence setup confirmed by Green Zones on both Health signals, GEV is worth watching for a breakout here. 

Our system never gave up on quantum computing… 

You’ve probably noticed quantum computing stocks fell off the radar.  

The 2025 hype cycle around names like Rigetti Computing (RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), and IonQ (IONQ) cooled fast once investors realized quantum computers are still years away. All of these stocks are down so far this year. 

But one stock has stuck out with a shallower drawdown and recent outperformance. And if you’ve followed our Long-Term Health indicator, you didn’t miss it.  

Long-Term Health, TradeSmith’s bedrock trend indicator, has been in a Green Zone on IONQ since early 2023, when the stock traded just over $6 a share. The volatility in the stock has only seen it dip into Yellow ahead of Green shifts that caught explosive runs higher.  

That signal has held through two separate quantum-hype collapses since. IonQ is trading at $46.55 today – up more than 650% since that Green Zone first triggered. 

And it just shifted Green once more, out of the Yellow caution zone.  

The quantum story might be early, and volatility is to be expected.  

But IONQ remains a long-term rollercoaster-style hold as long as it stays above its Red Zone. 

If you’re going to own quantum computing, our system says this is the best of the bunch right now. Just be prepared for a lot of movement – it rates a 75.7% on our Volatility Quotient, which measures a stock’s historical trading range. 

That means it’s appropriate for a small, speculative part of your portfolio and not much more. 

To building wealth beyond measure, 

Michael Salvatore 
Editor, TradeSmith Daily