Iljin Electric Co., Ltd. — AI supply-chain exposure

Iljin Electric is a Korean maker of ultra-high-voltage transformers, power cables and switchgear — the equipment that carries electricity at grid scale and steps it toward the sites that consume it. It is an exporter with reach across many countries, and its order book has swung toward the AI build-out: it has won data-centre transformer work in North America and carries a large heavy-electric backlog tied to that demand. In the chain it is a supplier of transformer availability, one of the tightest physical links between the grid and a data centre.

Its hook is the same shortage that lifts its peers: high-voltage transformers are built to order, on long lead times, by a limited set of qualified manufacturers, so a full backlog signals pricing power for as long as the crunch continues. That gives Iljin real exposure to how fast and how large the world's new AI power loads are wired in. The model places it in the middle band — meaningful leverage over a scarce input, but as a cyclical equipment supplier competing for orders rather than an irreplaceable chokepoint.