ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss engineering group ABB reported on Thursday its highest-ever quarterly order intake, helped by surging demand from the United States and for products used in data centres being built to support artificial intelligence.

Orders in the United States, the company's biggest market, jumped 37% in the second quarter, outpacing a 14% rise in the group's orders overall, ABB said.

Its shares were indicated 3.1% higher in premarket activity on the Zurich stock exchange as ABB also said it expected further revenue growth in the third quarter.

ABB said its orders for products for data centres increased in the double-digit percentage range during the quarter. They are being built to provide data storage and computational resources used for artificial intelligence, the company said.

U.S. companies announced a series of big-ticket AI and energy investment pledges earlier this week, part of a push by President Donald Trump to maintain the country's edge in the booming technology sector.

The demand put ABB in a good position for the rest of the year, said CEO Morten Wierod, despite ongoing uncertainties linked to rising tariffs.

"ABB delivered an all-time-high order intake and improved operational performance," he said in a statement, adding that the current market environment was "robust."

"We are on a good path towards a new record year," he added, pointing towards higher sales and profitability at the company, despite geopolitical uncertainties.

For the three months to the end of June, ABB reported a 9% rise in core operating income to $1.71 billion, beating analyst forecasts of $1.65 billion.

Net income of $1.15 billion was better than the $1.12 billion expected by analysts in a company-supplied consensus. Revenue rose 8% to $8.90 billion, ahead of forecasts for $8.72 billion.

Looking ahead, the company said it expected comparable revenue growth in the mid-single digit percentage range in the third quarter.