As midterm campaigns sharpen, the cost of living is returning to the center of the conversation. Voters are measuring promises against rent, groceries, insurance and the cost of getting to work.

That focus creates a demanding environment for both parties. The candidates who can connect national policy to the weekly household budget will have the clearest path to trust.

PICKS & SHOVELS · No. 10 · Specialty materials

Follow the supply chain far enough down and you reach a wafer of indium phosphide. Almost nobody makes it.

What it does

AXT Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) makes compound-semiconductor substrates, mainly indium phosphide (InP) and gallium arsenide wafers. Most of the production happens at its China-based subsidiary, Tongmei.

The shovel it sells

The raw InP wafers that laser makers like Lumentum and Coherent need to build the lasers inside AI transceivers. This is the bottom layer of the optical stack.

What the numbers say

• Q2 2026: revenue was $47.6 million, up 164% year over year. InP revenue was $30.7 million, up from $3.6 million a year earlier.
• Q3 2026 outlook: about $66 million in “realizable revenue,” with upside that depends on more Chinese export permits.
• Capacity plan: quarterly InP capacity rising from about $20 million to $60 million by year-end and more than $130 million by the end of 2027.
• Customers: supply agreements with prepayments or deposits from Lumentum ($43.5 million), Coherent ($25.4 million) and Casella ($22.3 million).

Sources: Semiconductor Today, Aug 4, 2026; SEC 8-K.

What could go wrong

• It depends on Chinese export permits for InP.
• Manufacturing based in China brings geopolitical and tariff exposure.
• Small scale and concentrated customers.

Season one, wrapped

Ten companies, one chain: turbines and fuel cells make the power, switchgear routes it, chillers remove the heat, packaging and burn-in turn silicon into reliable chips, lasers and cables connect them, and a wafer company in the basement makes the lasers possible. Season two looks at Coherent, Fabrinet, Ciena, Astera Labs, Eaton, nVent and Amphenol. Start again at No. 00.

PICKS & SHOVELS is a Boston Made Newsroom storyline from the BOSSTOX intelligence desk: one under-covered AI-infrastructure company at a time, explained in plain English with sources. Previous: No. 09.

📚 Follow the whole storyline on the Boston Made Reader → Storylines · Track the companies in BOSSTOX Learn.

Not investment advice. Boston Made, Inc. and its writers are not licensed financial advisors. Figures come from the company filings and reports linked above, for the periods stated; check the primary filings before making any decision.

PICKS & SHOVELS · No. 09 · Switchgear

Between the power plant and the server sits a lot of steel cabinets full of breakers. Without them, nothing switches on safely.

What it does

Powell Industries (NASDAQ: POWL) engineers custom electrical equipment, including switchgear, motor-control centers and prefabricated “e-houses,” that distributes high-voltage power safely in plants, utilities and now data centers.

The shovel it sells

Medium-voltage gear, including the packages that tie on-site generation into a campus. That’s the same bring-your-own-power trend from No. 02.

What the numbers say

• Fiscal Q3 2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026): revenue was $312 million, up 9%. New orders were $934 million, up 158%.
• Book-to-bill: 3.0x. Backlog was $2.4 billion, up 69% year over year.
• The orders include a data-center order worth “exceeding $400 million” for behind-the-meter on-site generation assets.
• Management cited “increasing demand to support data centers and related AI capacity demand.” A yard expansion is due to finish by the end of fiscal 2026.

Source: Powell 8-K, Aug 3, 2026.

What could go wrong

• A long history of oil, gas and petrochemical cycles.
• Large fixed-price projects carry margin risk.
• Capacity is tight with a backlog this big.
• The big data-center orders are concentrated in a few customers.

Why it’s under-covered

Energy analysts have followed Powell for decades. AI analysts mostly haven’t found it yet.

PICKS & SHOVELS is a Boston Made Newsroom storyline from the BOSSTOX intelligence desk: one under-covered AI-infrastructure company at a time, explained in plain English with sources. Previous: No. 08. Next: No. 10, AXT.

📚 Follow the whole storyline on the Boston Made Reader → Storylines · Track the companies in BOSSTOX Learn.

Not investment advice. Boston Made, Inc. and its writers are not licensed financial advisors. Figures come from the company filings and reports linked above, for the periods stated; check the primary filings before making any decision.