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In 1945, an engineer named Percy Spencer was tinkering with a radar magnetron, a device built to spot enemy aircraft, when the chocolate bar in his pocket turned to mush. Most people would have cursed the dry-cleaning bill. Spencer saw a fortune. Within a few years, that same wartime component was humming on kitchen counters as the microwave oven.
Here’s the thing about markets: the biggest money often gets made when a technology built for one war gets drafted into another. The hardware was already there. It just needed a new battlefield. I’m watching that exact pattern play out across the AI infrastructure buildout right now, and it’s minting winners faster than most investors can update their watchlists.
The catch? For every honest reinvention story that runs, there’s a hype trade wearing the same costume. Telling them apart is the whole game. This week on Being Exponential, we walked through five stocks that show you both sides of that coin. Four I really like. One I wouldn’t touch with your money, let alone mine.
There’s Marvell Technology Inc. (MRVL), which we see carving a genuine path toward a $1 trillion valuation as custom silicon and connectivity become the twin bottlenecks of the AI buildout. There’s Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL), still filed under boring PC maker, whose AI server revenue grew 757% year over year on $24.4 billion in fresh orders and a $51.3 billion backlog. There’s Fluence Energy Inc. (FLNC), a left-for-dead battery story now growing 48% as its storage technology finds new life inside power-starved data centers. And there’s Redcat Holdings Inc. (RCAT), a tiny drone maker with revenue climbing 274% as Washington warms to the dronification of modern warfare.
