# Digital Infrastructure Build

The physical networks that carry the world's data: data centers, fiber, towers, subsea cables, network equipment, and the power and cooling they use.

Theme: Digital infrastructure (Technology). Page: https://thematiq.io/themes/digital-infrastructure/digital-infrastructure-build/

## Key facts

- **The build: 22** parts in the Digital Infrastructure: Bill of Materials bill of materials, each traced to the companies that supply it (ThematIQ research)
- **The companies: 52** companies worth $2.2 trillion, earning on average 76% of their revenue here (Annual reports and exchange data, 2026-10-28)

## What it holds

Listed companies that earn their revenue supplying these parts of the Digital Infrastructure: Bill of Materials bill of materials, each read from its own reports.

| Part | Covers |
|---|---|
| Data center design and construction | data center design build contracting, architecture engineering services, steel framing structural, fire protection contracting, fire sprinkler systems, fire alarm detection, building access control |
| Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity | server racks enclosures, data center cabling connectivity |
| Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS | tower structures fabrication, base station antennas passive, small cell das systems, wireless site services |
| Terrestrial fiber and cable plant | optical fiber preform, fiber optic cable, osp connectivity hardware, fiber network construction |
| Subsea cable systems | subsea cable systems, cable lay marine services |
| Grid interconnection and medium-voltage distribution | transformers, switchgear, transmission distribution equipment |
| Critical power and distribution | UPS systems, data center power distribution, telecom data center power systems, critical power batteries |
| Backup and onsite generation | data center backup gensets, gas turbines, distributed generation, microgrids, energy storage integration |
| Electrical wire, cable and materials | building wire cable, conduit boxes, wiring devices |
| Facility cooling and heat rejection | data center thermal systems, ductwork ventilation, hvac controls thermostats |
| Liquid cooling | liquid cooling, direct to chip cooling, thermal management components |
| Routing and switching | data center switches routers, infiniband, carrier routers |
| Optical transport systems | optical networking equipment |
| Optical transceivers and components | optical transceivers, optoelectronic devices |
| Radio access network | radio access network equipment |
| Fixed broadband access equipment | broadband access equipment |
| Satellite broadband ground segment | ground stations, satellite user terminals |
| Networking, optical and RF semiconductors | ethernet switch silicon, network processors, optical dsp drivers tia, interconnect ICs, fpgas, timing clock ICs, base station rf semis, SerDes ip |
| Data center leasing, colocation and interconnection | wholesale data center leasing, retail colocation, interconnection services |
| Tower and small-cell leasing | tower leasing, small cell neutral host |
| Fiber and capacity leasing | dark fiber wavelength services |
| Infrastructure operations, maintenance and management | data center onsite services, data center infrastructure management, network field maintenance |

## Largest companies

| Company | Listing | Market value |
|---|---|---|
| Nokia | NOKIA.HE | $53 billion |
| Equinix | EQIX.XNAS | $100 billion |
| Cogent Communications Holdings | CCOI.XNAS | $391 million |
| Digital Realty Trust | DLR.XNYS | $63 billion |
| Arista Networks | ANET.XNYS | $235 billion |
| Helios Towers | HTWS.LSE | $4 billion |
| American Tower | AMT.XNYS | $85 billion |
| Corning | GLW.XNYS | $113 billion |
| Ericsson Lm Telephone | ERIC-B.ST | $37 billion |
| Schneider Electric Se | SU.PA | $159 billion |
| Applied Digital | APLD.XNAS | $6 billion |
| Marvell Technology | MRVL.XNAS | $221 billion |
| Bloom Energy | BE.XNYS | $67 billion |
| Dycom Industries | DY.XNYS | $7 billion |
| Vertiv Holdings | VRT.XNYS | $94 billion |

By listing country: United States 60%, China 8%, France 6%, Finland 4%, United Kingdom 4%, Sweden 4%, Japan 4%, Hong Kong 3%.

### What is Digital Infrastructure Build?

The physical networks that carry the world's data: data centers, fiber, towers, subsea cables, network equipment, and the power and cooling they use.

### What does Digital Infrastructure Build hold?

Listed companies that earn their revenue from the parts it takes to build Digital Infrastructure: Bill of Materials: Data center design and construction, Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity, Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS, Terrestrial fiber and cable plant, Subsea cable systems, Grid interconnection and medium-voltage distribution. 52 companies as of 2026-10-28.

### What is not in Digital Infrastructure Build?

Active optical cables: Optical transceivers and components, not Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity; direct-attach and active electrical cables at cable level: Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity, not Optical transceivers and components; retimer and cable chips inside them: Networking, optical and RF semiconductors, not Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity Site battery energy storage systems for grid or microgrid use: Backup and onsite generation, not Critical power and distribution; UPS batteries and -48V plant batteries: Critical power and distribution, not Backup and onsite generation CDUs, cold plates, manifolds, rear-door heat exchangers and immersion tanks: Liquid cooling, not Facility cooling and heat rejection; chillers, dry coolers, cooling towers and CRAH units: Facility cooling and heat rejection, not Liquid cooling

## What it is not

- Active optical cables: Optical transceivers and components, not Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity; direct-attach and active electrical cables at cable level: Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity, not Optical transceivers and components; retimer and cable chips inside them: Networking, optical and RF semiconductors, not Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity
- Site battery energy storage systems for grid or microgrid use: Backup and onsite generation, not Critical power and distribution; UPS batteries and -48V plant batteries: Critical power and distribution, not Backup and onsite generation
- CDUs, cold plates, manifolds, rear-door heat exchangers and immersion tanks: Liquid cooling, not Facility cooling and heat rejection; chillers, dry coolers, cooling towers and CRAH units: Facility cooling and heat rejection, not Liquid cooling
- Installation labour for power and cooling equipment: Data center design and construction, not B buckets; B buckets carry equipment only, including factory commissioning
- Manufacturer support contracts and embedded software: stay with the equipment bucket (Routing and switching to Satellite broadband ground segment), not Infrastructure operations, maintenance and management; third party and operator field maintenance and DCIM: Infrastructure operations, maintenance and management, not equipment buckets
- SLTE: Optical transport systems, not Subsea cable systems; wet plant of cable, repeaters and branching units: Subsea cable systems, not Optical transport systems
- Capacity sales and leases by cable owners: Fiber and capacity leasing, not Subsea cable systems; build and repair of the cable: Subsea cable systems, not Fiber and capacity leasing
- Active and massive MIMO antenna units with integrated radios: Radio access network, not Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS; passive antennas and RF cable at the site: Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS, not Radio access network
- Small-cell poles, enclosures and DAS systems: Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS, not Radio access network; small-cell radios: Radio access network, not Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS; neutral-host small-cell networks: Tower and small-cell leasing, not Wireless sites: towers, small cells and DAS
- Structured fiber cabling, MPO trunks and patch panels inside the building: Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity, not Terrestrial fiber and cable plant; long-haul, metro and FTTH fiber cable and OSP hardware: Terrestrial fiber and cable plant, not Data center white-space fit-out and in-building connectivity
- Low and medium voltage power cable and building wire: Electrical wire, cable and materials, not Critical power and distribution; busway and PDUs: Critical power and distribution, not Electrical wire, cable and materials
- Medium and low voltage switchgear and protection equipment: Grid interconnection and medium-voltage distribution, not Critical power and distribution; PDUs, RPPs and busway downstream of the UPS: Critical power and distribution, not Grid interconnection and medium-voltage distribution
- -48V rectifiers and site batteries: Critical power and distribution, not Backup and onsite generation; generators and fuel cells at the site: Backup and onsite generation, not Critical power and distribution
- Cross-connects and interconnection platforms inside facilities: Data center leasing, colocation and interconnection, not Fiber and capacity leasing; wavelength and wholesale transport between sites: Fiber and capacity leasing, not Data center leasing, colocation and interconnection

Data as of 2026-10-28. Source: ThematIQ (industry research, company filings, exchange data), ETFIQ (fund counts), and the publishers linked above. Not investment advice.