After the App Layer
Kat McGuire@katmcguire
−8.1%
since Oct 10
The idea
I think AI’s growth will make power, cybersecurity, and biosecurity increasingly important, so this owns the infrastructure that growth depends on. Power is the largest piece: baseload producers, turbine and grid gear makers, and gas and land, with small long-shot positions in small reactors. The rest splits between identity and security names, since agents increasingly need logins and permissions, and a smaller slice of biosecurity companies working on detection and response. It keeps some cash on the side and is meant to be held for years rather than traded around near-term news.
What it owns
- AI agents holding passwords and data create a new attack surface, making the companies protecting logins and networks essential infrastructure. · Palo Alto NetworksIt pairs a broad security platform with login protection tools, addressing the risk that emerges when people hand passwords to AI agents., CrowdStrikeIt provides endpoint protection as AI agents run on machines and act on behalf of users, making device defense more critical., OktaIt manages login access and permissions, which matters as agents acting for people need their own authenticated access to company systems., ZscalerIt inspects every connection before allowing access, which becomes more important when agents reach into company systems on someone's behalf., SEALSQ CorpIt manufactures chips designed to resist future quantum code-breaking, a tiny long shot on security needs AI may make more urgent.26%
- Companies operating large always-on power plants have the existing cash and sites to win as data centers compete fiercely for reliable electricity. · Constellation EnergyIt operates the largest nuclear fleet in the US and can provide the huge amounts of always-on power that data centers need under long-term contracts., Vistra CorpIt generates power from gas and nuclear plants and sells to whoever wins the AI race, getting paid either way., Talen EnergyIt sells power from its plants directly to data centers under long-term agreements, a form of spending that cannot be easily routed elsewhere.18%
- Turbines, transmission infrastructure and onsite generation are the scarce equipment every new data center and microgrid must secure. · GE VernovaIt makes the large turbines that every new gas plant feeding data centers requires, holding a position among few competitors in that market., Quanta ServicesIt builds the power lines and grid connections that link new plants to data centers, essential infrastructure for the expansion., Bloom EnergyIt makes fuel cells that let data centers generate power onsite, eliminating waits for grid connections.17%
- Most new data center power will burn natural gas, and land with power and water access becomes a competitive advantage for operators. · Williams CompaniesIt transports the natural gas that most new data center power plants will burn and is building onsite power for data centers., EQT CorporationAs the largest US natural gas producer, it supplies fuel for much of the new data center power generation., Texas Pacific LandIt owns vast Permian acreage with water access and collects payments when drillers, pipelines and power projects use the land.12%
- AI speeds up biological research for everyone, including bad actors, so detection systems, vaccines and treatments for biological threats gain value. · DanaherIt makes the tests and laboratory equipment used to detect pathogens, forming the foundation of biosecurity capability., Twist BioscienceIt synthesizes DNA and can screen orders at the point of manufacture, becoming a control point if AI makes dangerous biology easier to design., Emergent BioSolutionsIt manufactures vaccines and treatments that governments stockpile against biological attacks, the response layer to AI-accelerated threats., SIGA TechnologiesIt sells a smallpox treatment that governments purchase for their emergency stockpiles.11%
- Small reactors could become a major baseload source, held as small long shots alongside an established nuclear supplier. · BWX TechnologiesIt manufactures reactor components and nuclear fuel, earning revenue regardless of which reactor design becomes dominant., Oklo IncIt is a small long shot developing small reactors to power data centers directly, held as a speculative position with no operating reactor yet., NuScale PowerIt holds an approved small reactor design, making it a small long shot on modular reactors built for data center power.8%
- Cash8%