Shares of Sterling Construction (NASDAQ:STRL) surged 5.81% on Friday, as investors cheered the company's strong positioning to capitalize on the booming data center construction market.

Sterling's E-Infrastructure Solutions segment, which provides site development services for data centers, advanced manufacturing, and e-commerce distribution centers, has become the company's largest revenue stream and a key driver of its improving profitability. With major tech giants like Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), and Hyundai (HYMTF) among its customers, Sterling is poised to benefit from the robust growth in data center investments.

According to analyst estimates, the data center market is expected to deliver an 11.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 2034, fueled by increasing demand for cloud computing, big data analytics, and the rise of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Amazon alone plans to invest a staggering $150 billion in data centers over the next 15 years, while Meta is likely to ramp up its data center investments as it develops its own large-language model, Llama.