Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about where the company is heading. In January, he unveiled "Meta Compute", a broad plan to build Meta’s future around large-scale AI infrastructure, purpose-built data centers, and dedicated power capacity.
The company put serious numbers behind that plan, guiding for $115 billion to $135 billion in capital expenditure in 2026, nearly double the $72.2 billion it spent in 2025, with most of that spending aimed at building data centers and buying AI chips. Meta’s data center footprint already stretches across U.S. markets, including El Paso, Texas, Kansas City, and Montgomery, with El Paso standing out as one of its biggest and fastest-growing projects. On March 26, Meta said it was increasing its investment in the El Paso site to more than $10 billion, with a goal of reaching one gigawatt of capacity by 2028.
This move is part of a much bigger trend. The largest tech companies are spending heavily to build the infrastructure needed to support the next phase of AI, from chips and land to the physical networks that tie everything together. Two stocks, in particular, are drawing attention in the data center investment theme: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and American Tower Corporation (AMT).
With Meta’s spending now clearly picking up, are these two among the best-positioned stocks to benefit? Let’s find out.
Advanced Micro Devices
Santa Clara-based chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices designs and sells CPUs and GPUs which are used in some of the most demanding parts of the computing market, from gaming systems to large AI data centers
Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up 88.67%, showing the degree of interest from investors around the growth of data center demand. So far this year, however, shares are down 6.04%, which may give investors a better entry point after last year’s strong run.
On valuation, AMD trades at a forward P/E of 39.04 times, compared with the sector median of 21.12 times. That is a clear premium, but it also shows that the market is still willing to pay more for AMD because of its stronger growth profile.
The company’s recent results help explain that view. AMD posted record Q4 2025 revenue of $10.3 billion and finished full-year 2025 with a record $34.6 billion in revenue. Non-GAAP operating income for the year came in at $7.8 billion, while diluted EPS reached $4.17. For Q1 2026, AMD expects revenue of about $9.8 billion, which points to roughly 32% year-over-year (YOY) growth.
AMD is also doing more to strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. The company recently announced a partnership with Celestica (CLS) to bring the "Helios" rack-scale AI platform to market, combining AMD’s next-generation Instinct MI450 Series GPUs with Celestica’s advanced networking switch technology, with availability expected in late 2026. Further, AMD signed a multi-year partnership with Nutanix (NTNX) in February 2026 and committed up to $250 million to support agentic AI workloads on AMD-powered infrastructure. Together, those moves show AMD is working to expand beyond chips and offer broader AI systems, the kind of setup large customers like Meta need to support 1GW-scale data centers.
Wall Street remains positive on the stock. Out of 45 analysts surveyed, 30 rate it a “Strong Buy,” two rate it a “Moderate Buy”, and the remaining 13 are a “Hold.” The average price target of $286.37 implies about 41.8% upside from the current share price, and the Street-high price of $380 looks to an 88% climb from here.
American Tower Corporation
American Tower is a real estate investment trust that owns and runs digital infrastructure, best known for its large global tower portfolio. But CoreSite, its data center and interconnection business, is becoming a more important part of the story for investors.
Shares are down 20.8% over the past 52 weeks and down another 3.45% year-to-date (YTD), which suggests the market still is not fully valuing the company’s growing role in AI-related digital infrastructure.
That gap also shows up in the valuation. American Tower trades at a forward P/E of 15.78 times, which is well below the sector average of 30.54 times, suggesting the stock is trading at a discount.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, American Tower reported revenue of $2.74 billion, net income of $820.7 million, and funds from operations of $1.23 billion, or $2.63 per share. For full-year 2025, revenue came in at $10.64 billion and FFO reached $5.04 billion, or $10.76 per share. Management is also guiding for the 2026 FFO of $10.78 to $10.95 per share.
Additionally, CoreSite is becoming more important to the company’s long-term growth. In January, its Chicago campus launched native 400G AWS Direct Connect to support high-bandwidth AI and enterprise workloads. Then in March, it became one of the first carrier-neutral operators in North America to earn Google Gold Verified Peering Provider status, improving low-latency access to Google services and Google Cloud. For AMT, that makes CoreSite more valuable as an interconnection hub tied to the same AI buildout Meta is helping drive.
Analysts still see upside in the stock. All 23 analysts surveyed rate AMT a consensus Moderate Buy, and the average price target of $215.86 implies about 27.3% upside from the current share price.
Conclusion
Meta’s $10 billion expansion in El Paso is another clear sign that AI infrastructure spending is not slowing down anytime soon, and that creates a strong backdrop for both AMD and American Tower. AMD looks like the more direct growth play, with its chips and AI platforms tied closely to the next wave of hyperscale data center demand. Yet, American Tower offers a steadier way to tap into the same trend through digital infrastructure and connectivity. If AI spending keeps accelerating, the most likely path for both stocks is higher over time, with AMD potentially leading on upside and AMT offering more patient, valuation-driven gains.
On the date of publication, Ebube Jones did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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