“This segment experienced increased revenues within the majority of the market sectors in which we operate, with the most significant increase coming from the network and communications market sector due to greater demand for data center construction projects.” — EMCOR Group, Inc. (10-Q 2026-07-30)
That sentence could have come from a hundred places this season. In the July filing window, 37 distinct companies flagged data center and AI demand — about 13.9% of the companies that filed in the window — up from 10.4% in the same window last quarter. That 1.34x quarter‑over‑quarter move is a clear nudge higher, not a roar: more companies mentioned it, and they came from very different corners of the market.
Why it matters as a plain metric: 'share' here means the fraction of filers that flagged the topic, so the comparison controls for how many companies happened to report in each window. The shift is real and measurable, but modest in size.
The companies’ own words show what ‘data center demand’ looks like on the ground.
“Orders increased 27%, reflecting sustained demand in large projects across the Company's core markets, including the Company's solutions for large-scale data center projects.” — Johnson Controls International (10-Q 2026-07-29)
That’s the demand side: big capital projects and systems integrators winning large contracts. It’s not just chipmakers or landlords talking about servers; building systems and project orders are rising too.
“Communications end market revenue increased $1,012.0 million (62%) in Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025 … driven by data center networking demand, including the continued growth of our switch programs.” — Celestica, Inc. (10-Q 2026-07-27)
That’s the supply chain showing up: a technology manufacturer reporting large, tangible revenue gains tied to networking gear for data centers.
At the same time, the costs of supporting that growth appear in filings from a different angle.
“The increase in our EMEA cost of revenues was primarily due to: $24 million of higher depreciation expense driven by IBX data center expansions; $11 million of higher utilities expense, primarily due to increases in renewable energy costs; and $9 million of higher compensation costs.” — Equinix, Inc. (10-Q 2026-07-29)
This is the landlord view: capital spending, rising depreciation and utility bills (renewables included) are explicitly part of the story.
Not every mention is bullish. Some filings hedged with caution.
“Any such slowdown or adverse development could lead to reduced corporate spending or reduced demand for data center space.” — Applied Digital Corporation (10-K 2026-07-29)
So a couple of firms flagged the industry’s flip side: concentration risk and sensitivity to a slowdown in corporate spending.
Across the 37 companies that called out data centers and AI this window you see a common pattern: contractors and systems folks reporting project lift; suppliers and manufacturers pointing to big revenue swings tied to networking and switch programs; real‑estate operators noting capex and utility pushes; and a few operators warning that demand could change. A rough keyword tally of these mentions leaned positive (about 16 positive vs. 6 negative), but that’s a crude lens — the quotes above are the better read on tone.
Bottom line: more companies than last quarter are explicitly naming data center and AI spending as a business driver. The move is measurable but modest; the language companies use shows the effect across construction, equipment, operations and risk exposure — different industries, same theme.
*This is a descriptive reading of SEC filings via jodie's analytics, not investment advice.*