Warren Buffett found the most boring way to bet on AI

By John Towfighi, CNN

(CNN) — Warren Buffett became the world’s most famous investor by betting on the boring stuff.

Buffett, 96, who stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway on Friday, spent six decades transforming the company into an investment powerhouse. Buffett invested in traditional companies embedded in the real economy with a focus on value, like insurance companies, railroads and public utilities.

Buffett’s principle of investing in companies he understands continued despite the artificial intelligence boom enveloping markets. Berkshire Hathaway has investments in companies involved in the AI wave, like Apple and Alphabet, but didn’t chase momentum and put all its chips on high-flying AI companies.

But Berkshire is still reaping lucrative benefits from the AI infrastructure buildout, and it’s the company’s boring bets that are paying off. The AI boom needs enormous amounts of energy, and the buildout to develop data centers has transformed demands for power, making utility companies key beneficiaries.

Berkshire owns major utility companies that provide electricity across the country and companies that make the components that go inside power stations.

Energy as an AI bet

To be sure, one of Berkshire’s largest stock holdings is Apple, a bet initiated by Buffett in 2016 with the view of the company as a durable consumer products business. In June, Berkshire also announced it would take a stake in Alphabet, a direct AI bet that was a leap from the firm’s past investments.

But it’s power that powers much of Berkshire’s AI fortunes.

In 2000, Berkshire closed a deal to buy MidAmerican Energy, a utility company providing energy across Iowa and the Midwest. At the time, Buffett’s investment had nothing to do with AI. But two decades later, as the AI boom’s insatiable demand for energy ripples through the economy, owning utilities companies has become a sweet bet.

“Berkshire was already positioned to prosper off of AI’s most fundamental needs in energy and utilities, and it is very Buffet-like to have positioning that doesn’t require knowing who will be the main winner(s),” said Ken Mahoney, president and CEO at Mahoney Asset Management.

“He has long understood that you need to own companies that the economy simply cannot function without,” Mahoney said. “Sometimes in business, boring is what makes the most consistent profits.”

MidAmerican provides electricity to states like Iowa, which has become a hub for data centers. Berkshire CEO Greg Abel, who took over from Buffett in 2025, said during Berkshire’s annual conference in May that 8% of Berkshire’s energy load in Iowa came from data centers last year.

“When [the MidAmerican] acquisition happened, there was no talk of leveraging AI as part of this strategy, so I mean in some respects, this was a little bit of luck and good fortune,” said Cathy Seifert, director at CFRA Research. “Nevertheless, it still remains an interesting angle to view Berkshire Hathaway through the lens of AI.”

“It is a function of Buffett’s acumen at selecting good companies, and they are now the beneficiary of this and are now considered AI-adjacent,” Seifert said.

Berkshire also owns other utilities companies like NV Energy, operating in Nevada, another state experiencing the data center buildout. Buffett’s unintended bet on AI has shown up in other ways, too.

Berkshire Hathaway in 2016 bought Precision Castparts, a manufacturer for products used in turbines, which are the main component in electrical generators. At one point, Berkshire had to take an $11 billion write-down of the acquisition and Buffett said he had paid “too much” for the company. But as the AI boom has increased demand for power, gas turbines are in hot demand, and Precision Castparts manufactures the complex pieces needed for that industry.

“Turbines are one of the biggest bottlenecks for data centers,” said Adam Patti, CEO at VistaShares, which manages a Berkshire-inspired fund. “They’re in the sweet spot. It’s incredible.”

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