First Read: China Data Center Equipment "The upbeat global AIDC capex gu..."

Research evidence excerpt

First Read: China Data Center Equipment "The upbeat global AIDC capex gu..."

Global Research

15 May 2026ab

First Read

EquitiesChina Data Center Equipment

The upbeat global AIDC capex guidance is a China

positive read-across for Chinese players Utilities

Yishu Yan

Analyst

yishu.yan@ubs.com

Capex guidance lift for global power equipment makers and CSPs +86-21-3866 8782

We see strong 1Q26 results and guidance from international AIDC power equipment Anna Yuan

manufacturers, providing positive read-across for Chinese manufactures. Schneider Analyst

reported double digit order growth for data center product in 1Q26. Eaton raised FY26 S1460524090002

full year organic sales growth expectation to 10% from 8% before. Vertiv lifted 2026 anna.yuan@ubs.com

adjusted EPS mid-point guidance by 5%, driven by 2% higher organic sales and 80bp +86-21-3866 8637

adjusted operating margin expansion. We believe this could be well-supported by the Ken Liu

rising capex guidance from global hyperscalers in 1Q26. Domestically, Alibaba has Analyst

announced to expand its AIDC Capex to above its previous plan of Rmb380bn. Byte ken.liu@ubs.com

Dance raised its FY26 capex by 25% vs initial plan, to beyond Rmb200bn. Tencent stated +852-2971 7516

to increase its capex in 2H26. In overseas, the top four CSPs - Google, AWS, Meta,

Microsoft - had total capex of US$128.8bn in 1Q26, up 81% YoY. Google upped its

Capex by US$5bn to US$180-190bn, and Meta lifted its Capex by US$10bn to US$125-

145bn for 2026.

More order visibility in near-term

We believe the uptrend in global AI investment could bring positive implications to the

AIDC equipment orders for Chinese manufactures. For export-oriented companies, we

expect sequential ODM order growth from US market. For Kstar, we expect more ODM