Caterpillar
CAT · NYSEFor a century Caterpillar sold the machines that build things. Now it sells the generators that keep AI's biggest buildings running when the grid can't.
Who they are
Caterpillar has built heavy equipment since 1925, and for most of that history its Electric Power business sat quietly behind the bulldozers and mining trucks that made the brand famous. That's changed fast: as data center developers discover that regional power grids often can't connect new hyperscale campuses for years, Caterpillar's generator business has become one of the company's most important growth stories. Joseph E. Creed, a 28-year Caterpillar veteran, became CEO in May 2025 and was elected Chairman of the Board in April 2026.
What they do
Caterpillar sells large reciprocating natural-gas and diesel generator sets, increasingly paired with battery storage, that data centers install on site either as backup power or, more unusually, as the primary "prime" power source when there's no timely grid connection available at all. In January 2026, Caterpillar and dealer Boyd CAT struck a deal with American Intelligence & Power Corporation to supply 2 gigawatts of natural-gas generator sets and battery systems to the Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia, a site with total potential capacity of about 8 gigawatts — one of Caterpillar's largest single power-equipment orders ever. In November 2025, Caterpillar also formed a collaboration with Vertiv, combining its generators with Vertiv's cooling and power-distribution hardware into pre-packaged reference designs for AI data centers.
How Caterpillar makes money
The Power & Energy segment generated $28.6 billion in 2025, 42% of Caterpillar's total revenue, and grew at a 10.4% compound annual rate from 2020 to 2025. First-quarter 2026 company-wide revenue reached $17.415 billion, up 22% year over year, with Power & Energy contributing $7.03 billion of that. Total enterprise backlog hit a record $63 billion, up 79% year over year.
The bigger trend
Caterpillar's order backlog for large-scale generators now extends at least 24 months, and the company has said it remains sold out through 2027 even after a new production facility, due online in early 2026, doubles its manufacturing capacity. That single fact may be the clearest signal anywhere in this value chain that power generation, not chip supply, is the real constraint on how fast new AI data center capacity can actually come online.
Whether Caterpillar's doubled 2026 manufacturing capacity closes the backlog gap or demand keeps outrunning supply through 2027 as currently guided; how many more "prime power" off-grid deals like Monarch Compute Campus materialize versus traditional backup-only contracts; whether the Vertiv reference-architecture partnership scales into a meaningful revenue line of its own.
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Frequently asked questions
No. Caterpillar's Power & Energy segment, which sells generators and power systems, generated $28.6 billion in 2025, 42% of the company's total revenue, and is growing faster than its legacy construction and mining businesses.
Backup power only runs during a grid outage. Prime power is the primary, continuous power source, used when a data center can't get a fast enough grid connection or chooses to operate independently of the grid, which is increasingly common for large AI campuses.
Data center developers are ordering generators faster than manufacturers can build them. Caterpillar's order backlog for large-scale power generation now extends at least 24 months, and the company has said it remains sold out through 2027 even after a new production facility doubles its manufacturing capacity in early 2026.
This page describes public value-chain positioning for informational purposes only. It is not investment advice, and inclusion here is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Figures reflect public reporting as of mid-2026 and may have changed since.