INSET Wins Key Project Breakthrough Award from Huawei

Sterling Infrastructure shares have rebounded 12.2% over the past month, outpacing a 1.4% decline in the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry, a 3.2% dip in the Zacks Construction sector, and a 1.2% gain in the S&P 500. The rally is underpinned by the company's E-Infrastructure segment, where second-quarter 2026 revenues surged 192% year over year on mission-critical work including data centers and semiconductor campuses, with adjusted operating income up 148% and margins near 24%. Signed backlog reached $4.33 billion at June 30, 2026, up 116% year over year, while combined backlog rose 150% to $5.62 billion, and total visibility across signed backlog, unsigned awards, and future phases exceeded $7 billion. Second-quarter revenues rose 90% to $1.17 billion and adjusted earnings per share jumped 116% to $5.80, prompting the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 EPS to rise to $20.02 from $19.54 over the past 60 days. Risks remain in Transportation Solutions, where revenues fell 20% and full-year segment revenues are expected to decline 7-10%, and in Building Solutions, where revenues slipped 1% amid weak housing affordability.

Blackstone-backed data centre operator AirTrunk plans to invest $1 billion to expand its TOK1 campus in Inzai, Japan, as demand for infrastructure to support artificial intelligence workloads grows. The investment will support the deployment of liquid-cooling technology for AI workloads at TOK1, which has more than 300 megawatts of capacity. AirTrunk CEO Robin Khuda said geopolitical factors are driving more customers to Japan as a North Asian hub. Khuda also said AI infrastructure deployment is becoming more difficult in the U.S. and is already challenging in Europe, making Asia a major beneficiary.

Land and Houses Securities Public Company Limited rates Infraset Public Company Limited, or INSET, and WHA Utilities and Power Public Company Limited, or WHAUP, as poised for continued growth from the expansion of the Data Center business and rising production capacity, and sees them as stocks with catalysts from new investment projects in the period ahead. For INSET, the analyst maintains a buy recommendation with a target price of 5.25 baht, expecting profit in the second half of 2026 to accelerate steadily, particularly in the third quarter of 2026, which has the potential to grow both quarter on quarter and year on year. The key driver comes from the gradual recognition of revenue from six Data Center projects in hand, with a combined size of approximately 335 MW. At the same time, there is remaining revenue from the Trading business still to be recognized of about 290 million baht. INSET's latest backlog has risen to approximately 5.7 billion baht after securing additional new work, and the company is in the process of bidding on another four to five large projects with a combined value of approximately 10 billion baht. If it wins this work, it would be upside to the backlog and profit forecasts, and would help extend the growth of operating results into 2027. As for WHAUP, the analyst gives a buy recommendation with a target price of 8.80 baht and expects profit in 2026 and 2027 to grow outstandingly and continuously, driven mainly by revenue and capacity revenue from the water business, especially the increase in water usage from Data Center customers, as well as the recovery of the Gheco-One power plant and rising power generation capacity from Solar projects. In addition, WHAUP stands to benefit further from the new Power Development Plan through selection for new power plant projects, as well as opportunities from Direct PPA projects. For the profit trend in the third quarter of 2026, it is expected to be flat from the previous quarter, supported by the share of profit from the Gheco-One power plant, where losses from the coal business are likely to narrow, while water usage tends to increase in line with demand from petrochemical customers, together with the recognition of power generation capacity from new Solar projects providing additional support.

Yuanta Securities (Thailand) said the government is drafting the 14th National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2028-2032, which will take effect from October 2027, aiming to restructure the Thai economy and reduce constraints that hinder growth, in order to push economic expansion above 3% per year and set a goal for Thailand to rank among the world's top 20 in competitiveness by 2029. The plan is driven through five key areas, covering raising production efficiency and attracting new industries, reforming public administration toward OECD standards, upgrading human capital to support an aging society, turning natural resources and the environment into development capital, and investing in technology and innovation. A key shift from the 13th plan is the move away from designating target industries toward addressing structural constraints, through five pillars: Transform, Reform, Upgrade, Sustain, and Transfer. Yuanta's research team sees industries with a chance to benefit, including AI and data centers, electrical infrastructure, smart grid and smart meter, automated production systems, proactive water management, and digital infrastructure. The five stock groups expected to benefit are power plants, commercial banks, telecommunications, electronics, and construction contractors and building materials. Stocks that stand to gain include GULF, GUNKUL, GPSC, SSP, SCB, KTB, ADVANC, TRUE, SMT, and EPG.

The World Bank has raised its forecast for Thailand's GDP growth this year to 2% from 1.3%. TTBB Wealth Securities said the upgrade was driven by exports of AI-related goods and investment in data centers, which helped offset the impact of higher energy prices. For 2027 and 2028, Thailand's economy is expected to expand by 2.3% and 2.4%, respectively. Risks to watch include conflict in the Middle East, higher US import tariffs, a weak tourism sector, the effects of a severe El Niño that could hit farmers' incomes, and household debt as high as 87%. Although the upward revision to the GDP forecast is a positive factor, growth remains concentrated in only a few industries, so the research team is using a selective strategy, focusing on export groups with strong growth and groups that benefit from data center investment, namely DELTA, KCE, HANA, STECON, GULF, GUNKUL, BGRIM and GPSC.

Digital Realty announced the commencement of construction of KIX15, a new 24 megawatt data center at its KIX Campus in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The facility is being developed by MC Digital Realty, Digital Realty's 50/50 joint venture in Japan with Mitsubishi Corporation, and is scheduled to commence operations in the fourth quarter of 2028. KIX15 will be the fifth data center at the KIX Campus and, upon completion, will bring MCDR's Japan portfolio to 10 data centers representing approximately 220 MW of aggregate IT capacity. The expansion follows the opening earlier this year of the NRT14 Data Center in Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture, one of the first facilities in Japan to achieve the DGX-Ready Data Center certification. KIX15 is a key component of MCDR's Kansai AI Infrastructure Co-Creation Project and is designed to support hybrid air- and liquid-cooling technologies for hyperscalers, cloud service providers and companies deploying AI infrastructure.