Ritholtz Wealth Management's Josh Brown identified an under-the-radar stock that he believes will play an essential role in the AI, data center buildout story.

What Happened: Thursday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report," Brown made the case for buying Corning Inc (NYSE:GLW) shares at current levels, suggesting that the stock is being criminally overlooked as an AI play.

"You absolutely cannot do GPUs, cannot do data center buildouts without glass," Brown said.

Corning is a materials company focused on glass science, ceramic science and optical physics. Brown noted glass is needed to produce optical fiber cables and is often used in the chips themselves, as glass acts as the substrate in some AI chips, he said.

Why It Matters: Corning was downgraded to Equal-Weight by Morgan Stanley on Thursday, but the firm raised its price target from $35 to $38. Despite the downgrade, the stock is barely down, "which should tell you something," Brown said.

Brown argued Corning is in the midst of a technical breakout to the upside. Corning fought some resistance around the $35 level in 2018 and early 2019. The stock then surged following the COVID-19 pandemic crash in 2020. In recent years, it struggled to gain momentum above the $35 level. The stock is up nearly 25% year-to-date and was trading around $37.80 at the time of writing, per Benzinga Pro.

"I don't think that this story is as well understood as it should be and will be. I think it's waiting to be discovered," Brown said.

"I really like Corning here as a low-key, misunderstood AI data center buildout play."

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GLW Price Action: Corning shares were down 0.39% at $37.87 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Courtesy of Corning.