AI Investing Glossary
What is a PPA in the AI buildout?
A PPA, power purchase agreement, is a long-term contract to buy electricity at agreed terms, often signed years before delivery. AI companies use PPAs to lock in the enormous power their data centers need, and a signed PPA is one of the hardest-to-fake signals that a planned data center is real.
Why it matters for AI investors
PPAs convert AI ambition into contracted revenue for power producers and utilities, and their size and duration reveal how much capacity buyers genuinely expect to need. Tracking announced power deals, as the Buildout Tracker does, is a way of reading AI demand through contracts rather than press releases.
Tracked stocks in this layer
The largest names in the Power & Energy category, ranked by market cap:
Market data as of the close on . Prices are end of day, not live.
Related reading
- How to find AI stocks early, and check they are real · Early AI stocks sit where AI revenue is real but still a minority, in layers the market prices late. Six steps to find candidates and check them in the filings.
- AI power stocks: who has actually signed a data center deal · Which public power companies have signed deals to supply AI data centers, what kind of power and how much, with each tracked deal read by supplier and buyer.
- Is the AI bubble bursting? What the buildout data says · AI stocks have read Fear for six weeks while the biggest buyers keep raising their spending plans. What the buildout data says about the bubble question.
Frequently asked questions
Why do AI companies sign power deals years in advance?
Because power, not land or hardware, is the binding constraint on new data centers. Grid interconnection queues and new generation both take years, so a buyer who waits cannot build. Locking supply early secures the project timeline and hedges electricity prices; the deal's length and firmness signal how committed the buildout plan is.
Related terms
See how this fits the whole picture in the Start Here guide, or browse the full glossary.