Three Small-Cap AI Infrastructure Plays Poised for Growth Acceleration in 2026

The AI infrastructure sector is firing on all cylinders, commanding substantial capital deployment across enterprise automation, robotics, healthcare, energy, materials science, financial services and cybersecurity applications. Over the coming five years, trillions of dollars will flow into building the technological backbone of artificial intelligence systems. For investors seeking exposure to this structural tailwind through small-cap vehicles, three emerging leaders warrant close examination: Innodata Inc. (INOD), Five9 Inc. (FIVN), and UiPath Inc. (PATH). Each demonstrates compelling growth trajectories within distinct segments of the AI infrastructure ecosystem.

The Data Engineering Play: Innodata Inc. (INOD)

Innodata has positioned itself as an indispensable partner for enterprises constructing advanced AI systems, specializing in curating and engineering the high-quality datasets essential for training sophisticated language models. As a mid-tier player in the data engineering services space, INOD stands to capture significant opportunity from the escalating demand for enterprise-grade data preparation, validation, and governance services—critical functions for any organization deploying generative AI at scale.

The company’s customer base reflects its diversified positioning: Fortune 500 technology firms, healthcare institutions, federal government agencies, and specialized industry verticals all represent revenue streams. This portfolio approach mitigates concentration risk while exposing INOD to multiple growth catalysts simultaneously.

A standout recent development centers on Innodata’s proprietary GenAI Test and Evaluation Platform, architected on NVIDIA’s microservices infrastructure. The platform addresses a critical market gap by providing hallucination detection, adversarial prompt testing, and reliability benchmarking—essential risk mitigation tools for enterprises deploying LLMs. With MasterClass signed as an anchor customer and broader global rollout anticipated through 2025, this offering positions INOD to deepen relationships with tier-one technology companies navigating their generative AI transformation.

Operationally, INOD is scaling its global delivery infrastructure to handle surging project volumes from major technology clients. The company projects near-43% revenue expansion for the current fiscal year, though near-term profitability faces headwinds (-6.7% earnings guidance). However, the forward outlook brightens considerably: next-year estimates signal approximately 27% revenue growth paired with 47% earnings expansion, suggesting a transition into higher-margin revenue mix as the platform achieves scale. Analyst sentiment has shifted positively, with consensus estimates rising 7% in recent days.

Contact Center Transformation: Five9 Inc. (FIVN)

Five9 operates an intelligent cloud software platform serving the contact center market across North America and international markets. The company’s core offering—a virtual contact center cloud architecture—has evolved from a workflow automation tool into an AI-native customer engagement platform.

The transformation accelerated significantly following Five9’s rollout of its Genius AI suite on Google Cloud infrastructure, coupled with the release of specialized AI agent variants optimized for the Google ecosystem. Strategic partnerships with industry heavyweights including Salesforce, Microsoft, ServiceNow, and Alphabet have enabled Five9 to construct deeply integrated solutions that function seamlessly across enterprise technology stacks.

What distinguishes FIVN’s trajectory is the accelerating adoption of AI-driven agents to handle routine customer service functions—a capability that simultaneously improves resolution rates while liberating human agents for higher-value interactions. Subscription revenue dynamics show the payoff: the company expects roughly 10% revenue growth this year with 17% earnings expansion. Next-year projections indicate continued momentum, with consensus estimates suggesting 9.6% revenue growth and 8.5% earnings acceleration.

Automation Platform Evolution: UiPath Inc. (PATH)

UiPath delivers an end-to-end robotic process automation (RPA) platform supplemented with embedded AI, machine learning, and natural language processing capabilities. The company’s software suite enables organizations to construct, deploy, govern, and measure automated workflows across internal operations.

PATH’s recent product roadmap highlights the integration of generative AI through specialized large language models—DocPATH for document processing and CommPATH for communication workflows. These embeddings allow PATH customers to migrate from simple rule-based automation toward intelligent, context-aware process automation capable of handling unstructured information.

Current-year financial guidance projects 10% revenue growth with 23% earnings expansion (fiscal year ending January 2026). The forward year signals 8% revenue growth paired with 11% earnings expansion. Notably, analyst sentiment has strengthened materially: consensus estimates have climbed 18% over recent months, suggesting growing confidence in PATH’s AI monetization success.

The Investment Case

Each of these three small-cap infrastructure plays captures distinct segments of the AI buildout wave. Innodata addresses the foundational data challenge; Five9 targets customer-facing automation; UiPath focuses on internal operations. Collectively, they provide a diversified lens on how the AI infrastructure megatrend translates into differentiated business opportunities and financial performance across 2026 and beyond.