Emerson Electric (EMR)
Industrial automation + power management for DC.
- Ticker: EMR
- Sector: power equipment (power management)
- DC exposure tier: mid
Emerson Electric (EMR) is a moderate-exposure data-center supply-chain name in the power equipment sector. Data Center Index tracks Emerson Electric's capex history, project wins, and supplier exposure across the AI infrastructure buildout, refreshed daily from SEC filings and project announcements.
Emerson Electric data center thesis
Emerson Electric sells the discrete automation, AspenTech process software, and electrical-power management that orchestrate large industrial loads, and increasingly large DC loads. Backlog grew from $5.3B in 2020 to $9.5B in FY26 Q1 (+8% YoY), revenue runs $18B with gross margin up from 42% to 53% post-AspenTech. EMR is the diversified industrial proxy where DC is one of several growth verticals, not the entire story.
Bull case
- FY26 Q1 backlog hit $9.5B, up 8% YoY on a 4-quarter improving trend; Discrete Automation and AspenTech are the levered pieces inside the mix, with DC and life sciences both driving incremental orders against a long-cycle process-automation base.
- Switchgear and electrical lead times of 30-60 weeks remain tight, and Emerson's combined power-management and automation stack lets it sell multi-system content into DC builds where competitors only ship discrete components.
- AspenTech software attaches recurring revenue to every large-load industrial site Emerson ships hardware into; the DC megaproject pipeline is incremental upside on top of a process-automation base that benefits from the same reshoring and grid-mod tailwinds.
Bear case
- DC exposure is real but diluted: DC is one of several growth verticals (life sciences, sustainability), and the consolidated story still moves more on global process-automation cycle than on hyperscaler capex.
- At a ~$80B cap on a 28% twelve-month move, EMR has rerated less than pure-play peers but still trades above pre-AI-cycle levels; multiple compression is real if discrete-automation orders soften.
- AspenTech integration execution risk is ongoing; software margin gains have flowed through to gross margin, but any miss on the cross-sell math would meaningfully change the EMR-as-platform narrative.
Data center exposure rationale
Discrete Automation and AspenTech serve DC end-markets; DC is one of multiple growth verticals (life sciences, sustainability) called out in segment commentary.
Emerson Electric revenue and capex
In fiscal 2025, Emerson Electric reported revenue of $18.0B and capital spending of $431.0M.
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Capex | Operating income |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $18.0B | $431.0M | n/a |
| 2024 | $17.5B | $419.0M | n/a |
| 2023 | $15.2B | $363.0M | n/a |
Tracked Emerson Electric data center projects
- ExxonMobil's 1.5GW Data Center Power Plant Initiative, 1.5 GW est., TX · announced
- Three Mile Island Restart, 837 MW est., Middletown, PA · under construction
- Microsoft Fairwater Wisconsin, Mount Pleasant, WI · operational
- Diablo Canyon AI Integration Project, Avila Beach, CA · operational
- Calvert Cliffs Relicense, Lusby, MD · operational
- Vistra's Comanche Peak Nuclear Data Center Campus, Glen Rose, TX · announced