Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LSE:CWR, OTC:CPWHF) shares surged 23% to 616p on Wednesday, without any news from the solid oxide specialist itself.
The trigger for the strong gain was a report that Goldman Sachs had hiked its share price target to 670p from 530p.
The US bank has a 'buy' rating on the solid oxide fuel cell and electrolysis specialist, following an upgrade last October.
Since then, the shares have risen around 180%, with a gain of over 970% since this time last year, having hit a decade's peak above £15 in early 2021 before plunging to below 60p last year after one of its key partners, Bosch, walked away.
Since then, work with South Korean partner Doosan has continued, with new collaborations also added, such as with British Gas owner Centrica earlier this month.
And more recently, Ceres boosted its shares with the launch of a new solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) platform aimed at fast-growing demand from data centres and other energy-intensive users.
The company said its Endura system is designed to deliver onsite power more quickly and at lower cost, with installations possible in months rather than years.
Ceres said the platform could cut fuel cell system costs by around one-third at scale, while maintaining high efficiency and durability, including a five-year stack life.
Goldman highlighted this angle, as AI growth is expected to increase demand for data centres by 160% by the end of the decade, putting strain on power grids and driving demand for on-site power solutions.
The analysts said the Ceres SOFC technology can be deployed quickly to meet these emerging power needs, pointing to orders being received by US SOFC rival Bloom Energy, including a major partnership with Oracle.
Goldman said this key driver is most bolstered by Ceres Power’s partnerships with Doosan and Taiwan giant Delta Electronics, which are focused on producing SOFC systems for data centres.
Ceres and Delta have previously said production would begin by the end of 2026.