Earnings Preview: Corning, Vertiv, GE Vernova and Amphenol Test the AI Buildout's Limits

Eight companies that build the physical side of AI report this week. Corning (NYSE: GLW) goes first on Tuesday. Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV), Amphenol (NYSE: APH) and Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) follow on Wednesday. Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) and Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR) close the run on Thursday. Vertiv, GE Vernova, Quanta, Equinix and Digital Realty all raised 2026 guidance in July. The question now is whether backlogs and bookings still show demand running ahead of supply, and where supply is the limit.

The stocks come in weaker. From the Oct. 9 close to the Oct. 23 close, the eight fell between 3.6% (Digital Realty) and 22.6% (Quanta). Six of them lost 7.7% to 10.6% on Thursday, Oct. 22 alone, while Digital Realty and Equinix fell 3.0% and 4.3%. Our Oct. 23 Daily Brief covered that day's broad selloff in AI and chip stocks. All eight rose on Monday, Oct. 26, gaining between 1.3% (Digital Realty and Equinix) and 5.0% (GE Vernova).

The Schedule

All times are ET. Corning, Amphenol and Equinix have set call times but have not said what time their results come out.

Who Is Buying

Meta (NASDAQ: META) reported third-quarter capex of $34.91 billion, including finance-lease principal, up from $31.08 billion in the second quarter. It narrowed its 2026 range to $135 billion to $145 billion, from $130 billion to $145 billion. On Monday it launched about $35 billion of stock offerings. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) report Wednesday and Thursday, and our Hyperscaler Capex Tracker has their guidance. The suppliers will show how much of that spending has turned into orders.

Power and Cooling: Vertiv, GE Vernova, Quanta

Vertiv: The company guided third-quarter net sales to $3.65 billion to $3.85 billion, with organic growth of 34% to 36% and adjusted EPS of $1.77 to $1.83. It raised its 2026 sales range to $13.8 billion to $14.2 billion, from $13.5 billion to $14.0 billion. The second quarter was mixed against its April guide: sales of $3.274 billion hit the low end of the range, organic growth of 18% missed the 20% to 24% guided, and adjusted operating profit of $738 million topped the range. Vertiv said revenue reflected "minor timing shifts, primarily due to temporary supply chain congestion and multi-phased project execution." The July release gave no orders or backlog figure. In September, Vertiv agreed to acquire UtilityInnovation Group, a microgrid and behind-the-meter power designer, for about $1.45 billion in cash plus up to $1.15 billion in earnouts. That deal is expected to close this quarter. On Oct. 26 Vertiv completed a smaller deal for King Environmental Services, which handles fluid management for liquid-cooled data centers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

GE Vernova: Second-quarter orders rose 88% organically to $24.2 billion, and backlog reached $176 billion. Gas Power equipment backlog and slot reservations grew from 100 to 116 gigawatts, and GE Vernova expects at least 125 gigawatts by the end of 2026. CEO Scott Strazik said it was on track for 20 gigawatts of annual gas turbine output in the third quarter, rising to 24 gigawatts in 2028. Electrification data center orders reached "over $5 billion year-to-date, more than double our 2025 total," he said. The company raised 2026 revenue guidance to $45.5 billion to $46.5 billion and free cash flow guidance to $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion. Peer ABB (SIX: ABBN) said its data center orders more than doubled in the third quarter.

Quanta: Total backlog hit a record $53.4 billion on June 30, up from $35.8 billion a year earlier. Quanta raised 2026 guidance to revenue of $39.3 billion to $39.7 billion and adjusted EPS of $16.45 to $16.95. It also bought four contractors, including one that adds data center electrical work in the Northeast, and formed a U.S. high-voltage circuit breaker venture, citing demand "driven by data centers, electrification and grid modernization."

Fiber and Connectors: Corning and Amphenol

Corning: Optical Communications sales rose 32% to $2.07 billion in the second quarter. Enterprise Networks grew 65%, "with Gen AI product sales growing significantly faster." Corning guided third-quarter core sales to $4.9 billion to $5.0 billion and core EPS to $0.85 to $0.89. Amazon signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement for Corning to supply fiber, cable and connectivity for its U.S. data centers. Under a partnership with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Corning will expand its U.S. optical connectivity capacity 10 times and its U.S. fiber capacity by more than 50%. In September, Corning set up an at-the-market program to sell up to $2 billion of stock for general corporate purposes.

Amphenol: Second-quarter sales rose 55% to $8.8 billion, or 30% organically. Orders hit a record $10.7 billion, a book-to-bill of 1.23. Its 10-Q cited "outsized organic growth in the IT datacom market, with particular strength in AI-related applications." Amphenol guided third-quarter sales to $9.3 billion to $9.4 billion. Mind the split: Amphenol's shares split two-for-one on Sept. 2, so its third-quarter adjusted EPS guide is $0.70 to $0.71 on the new share count, or $1.40 to $1.42 before the split. Amphenol now expects CommScope, which adds fiber interconnect for IT datacom, to contribute $4.6 billion of 2026 sales.

Landlords: Equinix and Digital Realty

Equinix: Annualized gross bookings grew 23% to $424 million in the second quarter, its second-highest on record. Equinix raised 2026 AFFO per share guidance to $42.69 to $43.29. Its new 2027–2029 outlook lifted annual capex to $5 billion to $7 billion, from $3 billion to $4 billion in its June 2025 outlook. It cited "stronger-than-expected demand, accelerating bookings and presales activity" and "firm pricing."

Digital Realty: Second-quarter bookings came to $208 million of annualized GAAP base rent at its share. In July it signed two hyperscale leases worth $205 million at its share. Its backlog was a record $1.4 billion at its share. Digital Realty raised 2026 core FFO per share guidance, excluding net promote, to $8.15 to $8.20. It paid about $475 million for Kansas City land to support up to two gigawatts of utility power.

Funding: Both landlords tapped the bond market. Equinix sold $3 billion of senior notes in four tranches in August. Digital Realty priced €1 billion of 5.125% green notes due 2036 in October. For the riskier end of datacenter funding, see our Data Center Junk Bond Tracker.

Rack Power: Monolithic Power

MPS: Enterprise Data revenue rose 164% from a year earlier to $380.6 million in the second quarter. That was 38.8% of total revenue, up from 32.7% in the first quarter. MPS tied the gain to "power management solutions for AI and server applications." It guided third-quarter revenue to $1.14 billion to $1.16 billion. Its 10-Q shows that it sells mainly through distributors, one of which accounted for 28% of second-quarter revenue. A value-added reseller accounted for 20% of receivables on June 30, up from under 10% at year-end.

The Alpha Take

These eight reports test supply as much as demand. Meta's rising capex and Corning's Amazon and Nvidia deals point to buyers still spending, so Corning's Tuesday report is the first read. If Vertiv's organic growth reaches its 34% to 36% guide after an 18% second quarter, the congestion it cited would look temporary. If GE Vernova's gas backlog and slot reservations keep climbing toward 125 gigawatts, and Quanta's $53.4 billion backlog grows again, the bottleneck would look more like power gear and grid work than demand. If landlord bookings slow while supplier backlogs grow, that gap would be the story.

What to Watch

Corning, Tue.: Core sales against $4.9 billion to $5.0 billion and core EPS against $0.85 to $0.89, plus Gen AI optical demand.

Vertiv, Wed.: Sales against $3.65 billion to $3.85 billion, organic growth against 34% to 36%, any orders or backlog figure, and the 2026 range.

GE Vernova, Wed.: Gas backlog and slot reservations against 116 gigawatts, the 20-gigawatt output target and data center orders.

Amphenol, Wed.: Sales against $9.3 billion to $9.4 billion, adjusted EPS against $0.70 to $0.71 post-split, and book-to-bill.

Equinix, Wed.: Bookings after $424 million, AFFO per share guidance of $42.69 to $43.29 and capex plans.

Quanta, Thu.: Backlog after $53.4 billion and any change to 2026 guidance.

Digital Realty, Thu.: Bookings after $208 million at its share, the $1.4 billion backlog and any new hyperscale leases.

MPS, Thu.: Revenue against $1.14 billion to $1.16 billion and Enterprise Data's share of sales.