JabilJBL

built its reputation soldering circuit boards. Now it's one of the hottest AI infrastructure plays in the S&P 500.

Jabil sits deeper in the AI supply chain than many investors realize. The company manufactures rack-scale servers, liquid-cooling systems, and power hardware for hyperscale data centers.

That positioning is the reason its stock has surged more than 60% in 2026 while the broader market has gained under 10%.

The compounding edge of physical infrastructure

The case for Jabil rests on a simple mechanic. AI compute demand creates insatiable appetite for the hardware that houses it, and Jabil is one of the few manufacturers scaled to fill that order. AI-related revenue is now expected to hit $13.6B in fiscal 2026.

CEO Mike Dastoor confirmed that the company is on track to add a third hyperscaler customer for its data center offerings. That matters because concentration risk is the obvious bear case, and a third anchor customer neutralizes a chunk of it.

"Our diversified model continues to work, allowing us to support strong growth while also driving higher margins and strong free cash flow." Mike Dastoor, Jabil CEO

The India angle adds a longer-duration growth vector. Jabil and Adani Enterprises announced a partnership this week to build an integrated AI and data center infrastructure manufacturing platform in India, targeting hyperscalers and enterprise customers.

Adani itself has committed to spending $100B on renewable-powered AI-ready data centers by 2035. Jabil could potentially benefit from that ambition.

Not a chip stock, and that's the point

The risks add a layer of complexity. Jabil's business is structurally low-margin, with a 5.8% core operating margin on $35B in full-year revenue guidance.

That margin leaves little room for execution stumbles. Customer concentration remains a concern, as AppleAAPL

is still a named anchor client.

Hyperscaler dependency means a single capex pause from a major cloud operator could ripple through Jabil's order book fast. The Adani partnership had no disclosed financial terms at announcement, so its contribution to future earnings is speculative at this stage.

The valuation question is nuanced. The stock trades at 52x trailing earnings, which sounds stretched.

The forward multiple sits at 28x, reflecting the earnings acceleration already underway. The AI server market is projected to grow at 34% annually through 2030, and Jabil's revenue is tracking ahead of its own forecasts every quarter.

The market keeps pricing Jabil like a legacy contract manufacturer. The business is now a scaled infrastructure partner embedded in the physical expansion of AI computing.

That gap between perception and reality is where the opportunity lives.