Synthetic intelligence (AI) wants greater than chips. It wants energy vegetation, copper wiring, substations, metal, gasoline, cooling techniques, backup gear, and large quantities of business infrastructure. That’s why a number of the greatest Canadian AI-related shares could not appear like expertise firms in any respect.
Cameco (TSX:CCO), Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN), and Russel Metals (TSX:RUS) might all assist energy the AI information centre surge in several methods. Collectively, they present how bodily the AI growth has change into.
Supply: Getty Pictures
CCO
Information centres use huge quantities of electrical energy, and that demand is pushing governments and corporations to rethink long-term energy provide. Renewable power will play a job, and pure fuel will too, however nuclear energy retains transferring again into the dialog as it may present dependable energy. In reality, Canada’s new nuclear technique units out a objective of constructing as much as 10 new large-scale nuclear reactors, with two underneath development by 2035 and 5 extra in planning or improvement by 2040.
That places Cameco inventory in an fascinating place. The corporate is without doubt one of the world’s main uranium producers and likewise holds a stake in Westinghouse, a key nuclear providers and expertise enterprise. Within the first quarter of 2026, Cameco inventory reported adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $509 million. Its uranium section alone delivered adjusted EBITDA of $423 million.
The long-term demand image additionally appears to be like higher than it did a decade in the past. Cameco inventory has contracts in place for common annual uranium deliveries of greater than 28 million kilos over the following 5 years. If utilities, governments, and huge expertise firms hold taking a look at nuclear as a part of the reply to AI energy demand, Cameco inventory might stay a serious beneficiary.
LUN
Lundin Mining provides traders a special angle: copper. Information centres want copper for electrical wiring, energy distribution, cooling techniques, transformers, grid connections, and backup energy infrastructure. The extra electrical energy a facility makes use of, the extra necessary copper turns into.
Lundin produced 79,934 tonnes of copper within the first quarter of 2026. Income reached $1.16 billion, helped by robust realized copper costs. The corporate additionally reported adjusted EBITDA of $626.7 million and free money circulation from operations of $379.7 million.
The expansion story could also be much more fascinating. Lundin is advancing the Vicuña Undertaking, which administration says has the potential to rank among the many prime 5 copper, gold, and silver mines globally. That provides the corporate a longer-term path to changing into a bigger copper producer at a time when electrification, grid enlargement, electrical automobiles, and AI information centres are all competing for provide.
The chance is commodity publicity. Copper costs can fall rapidly if world development weakens. Mines also can face value inflation, allowing delays, labour points, and political threat. Lundin gives upside, however traders ought to anticipate volatility.
RUS
Russel Metals is the least apparent AI play, which can make it essentially the most neglected. The corporate distributes metallic merchandise throughout North America via metallic service centres, power discipline shops, and metal distribution. It doesn’t construct information centres immediately. However development tasks want metal, aluminum, plate, tubing, beams, and value-added processing.
Russel reported report first-quarter 2026 income of $1.42 billion. EBITDA reached $124 million, up 44% from final yr. The corporate additionally raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, marking its fourth consecutive yr of dividend will increase.
Russel expects to profit over the medium time period from U.S. industrial manufacturing, Canadian nation-building tasks, and infrastructure investments in areas corresponding to information centres. That provides the inventory a sensible hyperlink to the buildout reasonably than only a free AI label.
The chance is cyclicality. Metal costs, tariffs, industrial demand, and margins can all transfer towards the corporate. Russel isn’t a clean compounder yearly. However with a stronger U.S. footprint, a rising dividend, and publicity to infrastructure spending, it deserves extra consideration.
Backside line
Cameco inventory, Lundin, and Russel Metals gained’t transfer like software program shares. They sit nearer to the pipes, wires, gasoline, and supplies AI wants earlier than a single server can run. For traders trying past the apparent names, these three Canadian shares might assist energy the following section of the AI information centre growth.
