🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Caterpillar backlog from data center power gives two years of revenue visibility

• Energy & Transportation builds engines, generator sets, and industrial turbines. It posted Q3 2025 sales of $8.4 billion, up 17% year over year 1, and now makes up nearly half of company revenue 2.
• Backlog reached a record $39.8 billion, up $2.4 billion in Q3 2025, driven by data center customers 1. Revenue visibility extends through 2027, with booked orders expected to convert to sales over the next two years 2.
• A 4-gigawatt contract with Joule Capital Partners (an energy and infrastructure investment firm) for on-site power at a Utah data center campus marks a shift into AI infrastructure supply 2.
• Caterpillar will invest $725 million to double turbine engine output at its Lafayette, Indiana factory by 2030 2.

On-site power speeds data center builds

• Grid connection delays average over four years, which steers operators toward behind-the-meter generation (on-site systems tied to a facility’s internal network rather than the utility grid) and battery storage 3. On-site power is expected to reach 38% of data center power by 2030, up from 13% in 2025 4.
• Caterpillar works with Vertiv Holdings (a data center power and cooling supplier) to help data centers bypass strained utility grids 2. These sites run off grid using G3520K natural gas generator sets and Solar Turbines’ Titan 350 industrial gas turbines (Solar Turbines is a Caterpillar subsidiary) 2.
• Colocation providers (companies that rent data center space, power, and cooling) can use Caterpillar natural gas generation as a bridge in constrained regions 4. Hyperscale operators (very large cloud and platform companies) can do the same, with modern turbines that handle hydrogen blends (mixing hydrogen into natural gas) for net-zero plans 4.