Take the AI "snatch electricity" express! Fuel cell leader Bloom Energy (BE.US) skyrocketed by 1300% in one year, and the founder made his debut on the billionaire list.

Notice that in the competition to provide power to data centers, fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy Corp. (BE.US) has quickly risen from a small cap stock to a star player on Wall Street, with its stock price soaring over 1300% in the past year. This rapid rise has brought in substantial returns for the company's co-founder and CEO, KR Sridhar. The scholar-turned-entrepreneur holds 1.7% of the company's shares, with his personal net worth now estimated at $1.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, marking the first evaluation of his wealth by the index. At the age of 65, Sridhar co-founded Bloom in 2001, focusing on manufacturing solid oxide fuel cells, known as "Bloom Box." The San Jose-based company positions its products as cleaner and quieter alternatives to traditional power generation systems. "I did not foresee artificial intelligence (AI) at the time," Sridhar said in an interview this month about the founding vision of Bloom. "What I foresaw was the upcoming digital transformation. And my judgment was that, at this point in time, for the first time in human history, electrical energy, not thermal, will be our most needed dominant form of energy." Sridhar also holds options in C3.AI Inc. (AI.US), where he is a board member, but his main source of wealth still stems from his investment in Bloom. A Bloom spokesperson declined to comment on this. Bloom's Rise Bloom's fuel cells are produced using natural gas as a raw material, generating electricity through chemical reactions with lower carbon emissions compared to traditional power plants burning fossil fuels. The company also offers zero-emission versions using hydrogen as the raw material, but the key selling point is that the installation sites are generally able to access natural gas, while obtaining hydrogen is not as convenient. In the current situation where large tech companies urgently need power to meet the huge energy consumption demands of data centers, Bloom promises quick system delivery. Gas turbines currently have backorders lasting for several years, and approval and construction of nuclear power plant projects often take a decade or longer, whereas Bloom states that its systems can be installed within six months. In April, Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) agreed to purchase 2.8 gigawatts of Bloom equipment to power its data centers, completing the installation of a fuel cell system in just 55 days, one month ahead of schedule. In May, Nebius Group NV (NBIS.US) announced a partnership with Bloom to provide power for its expansion of AI infrastructure in the United States using fuel cells. Bruker Corporation Field Asset Management (BAM.US) has committed to investing up to $5 billion to deploy Bloom equipment in data centers, marking the first investment for its AI fund. The string of business successes is reflected in the strong financial performance. Bloom reported revenue of $751.1 million in the first quarter of April, far exceeding analyst expectations and achieving a net profit of $70.7 million, a turnaround from the same period last year when it was in the red. So far this year, the company's stock price has risen by approximately 290%. "The market's valuation of it doesn't seem much like an energy company," analyst Alessio Mastralandria said. "It's more like an AI company." Space Lab Sridhar, born in India, was a teenager when the oil crisis erupted in the early 1980s. He learned how to convert waste into ethanol to drive engines during that oil shock, sparking his interest in energy. This interest led him to study in the United States, where he pursued a mechanical engineering doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, graduating in 1990. During his studies, Sridhar developed a strong interest in space, eventually joining Arizona State University to teach aerospace and mechanical engineering and serving as director of the Space Technology Laboratory. Under his leadership, the lab was commissioned by NASA to research whether humans could survive on Mars. Although space exploration eventually lost its allure for Sridhar, his work during the Mars survival research laid the foundation for the core technology of Bloom in the future. One of the solutions proposed by his lab was using CECEP Solar Energy to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen. Sridhar realized that the reverse operation of this reaction could generate electricity, leading to the initial concept of the fuel cells that Bloom sells today. "I left my job at NASA because I believed that this technology could change the world," Sridhar said in an interview in 2009. "Just as developing countries leapfrogged from fixed-line telephones to enter the era of mobile communication, I believe our technology can help these countries achieve a similar leap in power." Future Wealth Backed by over $1 billion in venture capital, Bloom has grown rapidly but has been unprofitable for nearly two decades, relying heavily on federal and state government subsidies. In 2020, after a highly anticipated IPO two years later, Bloom's stock price fell by about 32% from the issuing price. The rise of AI and the endless demand for power that follows have injected strong momentum into Bloom's business. If Bloom Energy has another successful year, Sridhar's wealth is expected to further increase. The CEO recently received over 300,000 performance-based restricted stock units, contingent on the company achieving revenue targets and his continued tenure. Under the incentive plan, he is eligible to receive up to 300% of the target number of performance stock units. "I am not worried about the stock price," Sridhar said in an interview this month. "The market has its own judgment. What we need to do is to do things well, tell our story well. Where we stand in the market is up to the market to decide."