AI screening example · run on October 17, 2026

Data center stocks,
across all of Japan.

Markets have started to doubt the debt behind AI data centers. So which Japanese companies actually win data center construction work and power equipment orders? Katana kept 313 companies whose annual reports mention data centers, and AI read each one and supported 29.

Background

Markets started to doubt the debt behind AI data centers.

On October 14, 2026, bonds of CoreWeave, the U.S. company that rents out AI cloud capacity, plunged. Its 9.625% notes due 2032 fell below 80 cents on the dollar, and their yield briefly rose above 15%. The stock closed down 15%. Its liabilities, including leases, reached $52 billion (about ¥8.2 trillion) at the end of June. Investors began to question whether AI infrastructure companies that borrowed at high rates to buy chips and build data centers can repay. The Nikkei average fell sharply in Tokyo the next day.

Even so, data center construction already shows in Japanese companies' results. Dai-Dan's annual report says orders stayed strong, led by data centers and factories, and orders received rose 27%, from ¥252.5 billion to ¥319.9 billion. Its completed projects include air conditioning and plumbing work for the NRT12 data center and one in Osaka's Nanko area. Nippon Densetsu Kogyo won large private projects led by data centers, and its orders hit a record for the third year in a row.

So which Japanese companies actually win data center construction work and equipment orders? We searched annual reports with Katana.

01 / Input

The companies we wanted to find.

“We want companies that already win orders for, build, or deliver data center construction work, electrical and air-conditioning installation, or equipment such as emergency generators, UPS systems and switchboards. We do not want companies that only use or operate their own data centers.”

Entered in Japanese; English translation.

We used a word condition to keep companies that mention data centers in the business description or business environment of their annual reports, turned this profile into two questions entered in English, and had the AI read each report, question by question.

02 / Conditions

The conditions we applied across Japan.

Quantitative

Katana computes its metrics for every company.

Annual report business description mentions “data center” (データセンター)
Or the business environment section mentions “data center”

Qualitative

AI reads each annual report and judges support and counterevidence.

Does the company report actual orders, construction work or deliveries for data centers, in at least one of the following: construction of data center buildings, electrical installation work for data centers, air-conditioning or mechanical installation work for data centers, or equipment supplied to data centers such as emergency generators, UPS systems or switchboards? (Do not count it if the company only uses or operates its own data center, only provides cloud or hosting services, only sells general-purpose products with no stated data center use, or only mentions plans, inquiries or future market potential.)
Does the annual report describe data center related work or products as a growth driver, a named focus area, or a source of orders, sales or order backlog, for example by stating that orders or sales for data centers increased? (Do not count a single passing mention of data centers in a list of general markets.)

The questions were entered in English and judged in order. For both, passages mentioning data centers were read first.

~3,800listed companies

313match the numbers

29AI judged as supported

Katana

read the filings and supported 29.

03 / Results

29 supported. We dropped 6, added 1 that needed review, and checked all 24 against the source.

Of 313 companies, 29 were supported, 70 need review and 214 had counterevidence. Below are the 24: two each from HVAC contractors, electrical and telecom contractors, and power equipment first, then the rest in the same order.

Dai-Dan1980 · Construction

Orders stayed strong on construction demand led by data centers and factories, and margins on new orders improved.Filing ↗An HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractor. Orders rose 27% to ¥319.9 billion, and electrical orders more than doubled. Its completed projects include the NRT12 data center and one in Osaka's Nanko area.
Shin Nippon Air Technologies1952 · Construction

Its major completed projects include the expansion of LY Corporation's Shirakawa data center, buildings 6 and 7.Filing ↗An HVAC contractor. Completed projects include LY Corporation's Shirakawa data center and tenant work at the Sonezaki data center. Shimizu accounts for 11.8% of its completed work.
Nippon Densetsu Kogyo1950 · Construction

Orders hit a record for the third year in a row on large private projects led by data centers and steady railway investment.Filing ↗Mainly a railway electrical contractor. It also wins large private projects such as data centers, and orders reached ¥267.3 billion.
Exeo Group1951 · Construction

Its businesses include electrical, HVAC and smart energy work for offices, condominiums, data centers and solar plants.Filing ↗A major telecom contractor whose business description includes electrical and HVAC work for data centers.
Fuji Electric6504 · Electric Appliances

Aims to win more orders for UPS systems, substation equipment and switchboards for data centers and chip plants, where demand is surging.Filing ↗A major maker of power supply and substation equipment. Its energy segment, which includes UPS systems, grew sales 11% to ¥394.2 billion and operating profit 64%.
Panasonic Holdings6752 · Electric Appliances

Sales of battery storage systems for data centers grew sharply, lifting its energy segment despite lower automotive battery sales.Filing ↗Its energy segment grew 13% to ¥984.2 billion, and it plans to raise output of battery cells for data centers, partly using automotive lines.

Show the other 18

Taikisha1979 · Construction

Its environmental systems business covers general air conditioning for buildings including data centers.Filing ↗A major HVAC contractor that names data centers as a focus area alongside chips and pharmaceuticals.
Sanki Engineering1961 · Construction

Secured a larger backlog than a year earlier on active private investment in redevelopment, data centers and industrial air conditioning.Filing ↗Judged as needing review. An HVAC and plumbing contractor that also says data center projects keep coming and staffing them is a challenge.
Yashima Denki3153 · Wholesale Trade

Sales held firm as special air conditioning for data centers and maintenance work progressed smoothly.Filing ↗An electrical trading company that handles air conditioners and server cooling units for data centers. Its public and facilities business grew sales 22% and operating profit 59%.
Comsys Holdings1721 · Construction

Sales rose on large data center work and other projects at its core subsidiary.Filing ↗A major telecom contractor. Large data center work helped raise sales at its core subsidiary Nippon Comsys.
Nippon Rietec1938 · Construction

Won several large projects, including energy infrastructure work for data centers, sharply raising orders.Filing ↗Mainly a railway electrical contractor. Large projects including data centers lifted orders 31%.
ETS Group253A · Construction

Won large extra-high-voltage substation projects for renewable plants and data centers.Filing ↗A transmission line contractor that won large extra-high-voltage substation projects at data centers.
Daiwa House Industry1925 · Construction

Treats chip plants and data centers as growth areas in its commercial and business facilities work.Filing ↗A major homebuilder that set up a data center division and treats data centers, alongside chip plants, as a growth area.
Nippon Aqua1429 · Construction

Won new data center and other building projects, though some were delayed by rising construction costs.Filing ↗Sprays insulation, and says demand is rising in data center buildings that need to save energy.
Mitsubishi Electric6503 · Electric Appliances

Sales rose on domestic transportation and overseas UPS business.Filing ↗Puts priority resources into data center business in its infrastructure segment, where overseas UPS sales grew.
Tamura6768 · Electric Appliances

Strong demand for large transformers and reactors for U.S. data center PDUs and UPS systems drove results.Filing ↗An electronic parts maker. Large transformers for U.S. data center power equipment lifted electronic parts sales 6% to ¥81.5 billion, and it is expanding its Mexico plant.
Seiko Electric6653 · Electric Appliances

Orders rose 30.8% to ¥39.2 billion as orders for data centers and battery storage sites grew.Filing ↗A substation equipment maker. Orders for data center power receiving systems grew, lifting total orders 31%.
Nitto Kogyo6651 · Electric Appliances

Distribution sales rose 7.0% and segment profit 25.8% as data center construction lifted sales of related materials.Filing ↗A switchboard and server rack maker that is building a second plant in Nogi, Tochigi, to meet data center demand.
Sanoyas Holdings7022 · Transportation Equipment

Expanded capacity at its switchboard subsidiary for new data center projects and won large orders.Filing ↗Makes switchboards and distribution boards for data centers through subsidiaries such as Shoei Denki.
Tachibana Eletech8159 · Wholesale Trade

Extra-high-voltage power receiving equipment and emergency generators for data centers contributed strongly to sales.Filing ↗An electrical and electronic parts trading company. Its facilities business posted record sales and a 32% rise in operating profit.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries7011 · Machinery

Engines held firm, led by those for data centers.Filing ↗Engines held firm, led by those for data centers, and it is building a business supplying power, cooling and distribution systems for data centers as packages.
Air Water4088 · Chemicals

Gas fire suppression work for power facilities and data centers was strong.Filing ↗An industrial gas company that installs gas fire suppression systems and supplies high-output UPS systems for data centers.
Nidec6594 · Electric Appliances

Expanding sales of data center products such as water-cooling modules and HDD motors.Filing ↗A motor maker that sells water-cooling modules and HDD motors for data centers.
Sanoh Industrial6584 · Transportation Equipment

Started selling liquid-cooling fittings for data centers and won orders from several domestic customers in September 2025.Filing ↗An automotive piping maker that has started winning orders for data center liquid-cooling parts.

Note: we dropped six supported companies. Kansai Electric Power opens and operates data centers itself. Mirait One, Kraftia, Shinko Industries, Ebara and Sansha Electric describe plans and focus on data centers but report no orders or sales from them. We added Sanki Engineering, which needed review but says it secured a larger backlog than a year earlier in industrial air conditioning, including data centers. Nidec and Sanoh, which make cooling parts, also appear in our data center liquid cooling stocks example.

View detailed results

These results are from October 17, 2026. Qualitative judgments use the filings available at that time, while quantitative screening uses the latest financial data.

04 / Takeaway

Data center orders are growing at specialty contractors, not general contractors.

Here is how companies often named as data center plays describe data centers in their annual reports.

Company	Role	In the annual report
Kajima	General contractor	Not mentioned
Taisei	General contractor	Not mentioned
Obayashi	General contractor	Partners' business
Shimizu	General contractor	One promising market
Dai-Dan	HVAC and electrical	Orders +27%, completed data center work
Shin Nippon Air	HVAC	Completed data center work
Nippon Densetsu	Electrical	Record orders, incl. data centers

None of the four listed major general contractors reports data center orders or completed data center projects. Kajima and Taisei do not use the word “data center” even once in the seven main sections Katana reads. Obayashi mentions it only when describing a U.S. builder it acquired and an Australian builder it partners with, and Shimizu only names it as one promising market.

Specialty HVAC and electrical contractors, by contrast, report data center work as results. Dai-Dan's orders rose 27%, and its completed projects include the NRT12 data center and one in Osaka's Nanko area. Shin Nippon Air Technologies' completed projects include LY Corporation's Shirakawa data center. In a data center, where the cooling for servers and power that must never stop are the core of the building, specialty contractors install that equipment even when a general contractor leads: 11.8% of Shin Nippon Air Technologies' completed work comes from Shimizu.

These figures come from annual reports for years through March 2026, and construction has continued since. According to CBRE, Greater Tokyo had 1,086 MW of data center capacity as of the first quarter of 2026, with another 2,544 MW planned, 2.3 times what exists. In a Nikkei xTECH survey of operators in April and May 2026, 24 companies planned 38 new builds and expansions through 2030, five of them above 100 MW. If those plans proceed, specialty contractors' orders have room to grow.

CBRE also notes that some projects have been deferred for lack of power, and if data center owners run short of funding, as the CoreWeave selloff suggests can happen, investment slows. What matters then is the work already on the books. Dai-Dan carried ¥327.0 billion of work into the next year, 1.4 times the ¥229.4 billion it completed this year, so sales would not fall right away even if orders drop. That cushion lasts only until the backlog is finished, though.

Your stock-picking, handed straight to AI.

Complex theses, your own selection rules. Katana narrows companies with its own metrics, and AI reads annual reports to judge qualitative conditions. The selection you used to do one company at a time, AI now runs across the Japanese market.

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