Markets Insight: The Dax is also feeling the AI ​​tremor - but less visibly

Many industrial companies benefit from popular technology relating to artificial intelligence. With all the opportunities for their shares, analyzes Ulf Sommer. And risks.

A wave of selling has caused many technology stocks to collapse in recent days. The reason for this is concern that companies' billion-dollar investments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) will not pay off.

The DAX was largely unimpressed by this. A first explanation is that Germany's most important stock market index combines a lot of industry and thus the “old economy”, but little technology and the future. A closer look shows that this is an outdated view and that the DAX is by no means immune to future AI earthquakes.

One of the most spectacular AI stocks is Siemens Energy. The former Siemens division is taking advantage of the world's growing energy demand in its business with gas turbines to generate electricity. Siemens Energy has posted record levels of order intake, sales and profitability in recent quarters.

The share price has risen 1,000 percent in the past three years, but has fallen 35 percent since its record high in early May. This reflects concerns that the boom is ebbing and data centers could use less electricity in the future.

Such technologies are being worked on and Infineon, like Siemens Energy, a former Siemens division, is not entirely uninvolved. The Munich-based group relies on materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, which enable the production of semiconductors with higher power density and lower conversion losses, which is important for the development of AI infrastructures.

The stock has gained a good 55 percent in the past three years and lost almost 20 percent in the last three trading days in the recent AI earthquake.

With technology and software for operating infrastructure such as cooling, energy distribution and fire protection systems, the parent company Siemens is also positioned in the global AI boom. The total order backlog recently reached a record high of 132 billion euros.

The business with AI data centers, including large orders from the USA, is responsible for this, among other things. The share reflects the boom: the price has doubled in the past three years and is only eight percent below the record high in August. This signals, at least so far, a high level of resilience in times of growing concerns about the AI ​​boom.

As a supplier to the semiconductor industry, Merck produces materials that are needed for the production of microchips such as those used in data centers. These include photoresists for coating the finest chip structures and process chemicals for the deposition or etching of material layers. The share price does not reflect this at all so far: minus five percent in the last three years.

The air freight business is flourishing at DHL. The boom in AI applications, cloud services and digital networking is leading to the rapid expansion of data centers. The logistician earns money from transporting servers, computers and cooling devices.

This stock has also shown resistance so far. The price has increased by almost 50 percent in the past three years and is only six percent below the record high from 2021. At that time, the logistics company benefited from the corona pandemic because a lot was shipped due to the closed stores.