Name: Bank of America's Andrew Obin: Big industrial players are partnering with data centers
Uploaded: 2026-01-09T23:07:03+00:00
Duration: 258 s

Speakers

Andrew Obin — Senior Industrials Analyst, Bank of America Securities

Summary

Bank of America's Andrew Obin discusses the pace of AI data center investment and why he favors large HVAC and electrical equipment suppliers. He argues that market concerns about liquid cooling reducing chiller demand are overblown, highlights Trane's sold-out water-cooled chiller backlog and JCI's coming service revenue, and notes NVIDIA's rapid technology roadmap as a key driver. Obin recommends sticking with big industrial players that can design, install, commission, and service data-center equipment.

Andrew Obin of Bank of America focuses on AI data center infrastructure demand.
He favors large HVAC and electrical equipment suppliers over noisier names.
Obin says Trane's water-cooled chillers are sold out for two years.
He calls 45C liquid-cooling concerns overblown for hot-climate data centers.
JCI and Trane may see service revenue from equipment installed earlier this decade.
Obin highlights NVIDIA's chip roadmap and moat-building as a driver.
He advises investors to stick with big players amid rapid technology transitions.

Ideas

Andrew Obin Senior Industrials Analyst, Bank of America Securities 0:42

NVIDIA builds moat versus competition.

NVIDIA is driving the massive data center technology change, and Jensen Huang is building a moat versus competition. The rapid roadmap transitions from GB to fiber racks and Blackwell to Rubin to Feynman reinforce NVIDIA's central position in the AI infrastructure buildout.

Andrew Obin Senior Industrials Analyst, Bank of America Securities 0:52

Favor big data-center HVAC suppliers.

The AI data center buildout is driving massive technological change, and the winning approach is to stick with large HVAC and electrical equipment suppliers that partner with hyperscalers. Data centers want partners that can design, install, commission, and service equipment through rapid transitions from GB to fiber racks and Blackwell to Rubin to Feynman, creating a durable partnership and service moat that the market may be missing.

Andrew Obin Senior Industrials Analyst, Bank of America Securities 2:41

Trane chillers sold out, concerns overblown.

Trane is a large HVAC player whose water-cooled chillers are sold out for the next two years. Concerns that Jensen Huang's 45C liquid cooling will reduce chiller demand are overblown because hot climates like Texas still require large water-cooled chillers, and any lower chiller content per megawatt is offset by more rooftop equipment. The installed base also sets up service revenue later this decade.

Andrew Obin Senior Industrials Analyst, Bank of America Securities 3:15

JCI service revenue builds later.

JCI is one of the large HVAC players with established relationships with hyperscalers like Meta, AWS, and Alphabet. Equipment installed over the past couple of years will begin generating service revenue toward the end of the decade, giving it a more consistent revenue stream and reinforcing the big-player advantage in data center cooling.

This CNBC video, published January 09, 2026, features Andrew Obin discussing NVDA, Data center HVAC and electrical equipment suppliers, TT, JCI. 4 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Andrew Obin · Tickers: NVDA, Data center HVAC and electrical equipment suppliers, TT, JCI

Bank of America's Andrew Obin: Big industrial players are partnering with data centers

Summary

Ideas

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