AI Infrastructure and European Defense Spending Drive Global Corporate Growth

The economy built around AI has continued to boom even as experts and leaders work to hammer out the technology's execution problem and debate the guardrails that should be put around it. Demand for AI chips remains strong, as Nvidia holds its top spot in TIME and Statista’s 2026 statistical ranking of the World’s Best Companies, highlighting top performing companies around the globe based on evaluations of employee satisfaction, revenue growth, and sustainability transparency. But new companies are also entering the scene as the AI boom reaches down the supply chain.

Companies like Wistron (no. 16), Lenovo (no. 51) and Zurich Insurance Group (no. 70) are new additions to the 2026 list. Major Nvidia supplier Wistron reports that the demand for its AI servers continues to exceed supply. The Taiwan-based manufacturing company recently opened a plant in Texas to ramp up production. Chinese computer company Lenovo, known for being a maker of devices like PCs, smartphones and tablets, saw annual profits rise to record sales driven by the newer AI server part of their business. And the wave of growing demand for physical infrastructure to support AI has created an opportunity for firms like Zurich Insurance Group to cash in on selling more data center construction-related insurance. Zurich plans to expand its dedicated insurance and risk management solution for large-scale data center projects soon into Europe and Latin America. S&P Global puts total insurable values for each data center at up to $30 billion per location.

Beyond AI, European defense technology companies are seeing cashflow as a result of European NATO allies committing in 2025 to spend a projected €800 billion on defense readiness by 2030. “The increased defense spending in Europe is actually one of the largest demand signals we have seen in generations,” says Hugues Lavandier, senior partner in McKinsey’s Aerospace & Defense Practice. A good portion of that spending is still going outside of Europe, but Lavandier “won't be surprised that we increasingly see more of that spend going to Europe for sovereignty reasons.” The war in Ukraine among other recent geopolitical tensions has shown Europe that the art of war fighting and the equipment needed is also changing. “The share of that money being spent on equipment is actually going up,” Lavandier says, especially on new technologies like drones and unmanned vehicles, and addressing technical challenges like navigation, electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Traditional companies in the space like French defense electronics maker Thales (no. 22; up from no. 224 in 2025) and Italian defense and aerospace company Leonardo (no. 25; up from a no. 126 in 2025) are seeing uptick in orders. At the same time, “non-traditional players are entering into the field, especially as suppliers,” Lavandier says. “In particular, a number of automotive players have entered into the fray…sometimes even selling plants, making capacity available.” Thales, for example, recently announced a sovereign drone partnership with French carmaker Renault (no. 42). A number of new startups are also taking this opportunity to translate the investment into innovations, sometimes as standalone products or in partnership with other companies, similar to Anduril’s ventures in the U.S. For example, German drone-maker Quantum Systems, which is currently supplying armed forces in Ukraine, announced significant investment from German telecomm giant Deutsche Telekom (no. 7), which owns the T-mobile brand, and also announced a new partnership with Rheinmetall (no. 287) to co-create an anti-drone shield.