AI and the infrastructure imperative

No longer a niche technology, AI is an industrial-scale force reshaping the physical world. From data centres and energy to transport and utilities, infrastructure is both the foundation and the beneficiary of this transformation.

For infrastructure investors, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer an abstract concept. Beneath popular tools like ChatGPT lies a rapidly expanding physical backbone – the energy systems, data networks, and digital infrastructure required to power algorithms, process information, and deliver insights. Across the infrastructure landscape, AI is already reshaping how assets are built, operated and valued – and understanding its implications is critical to assessing investment opportunities and managing risks. 

The role of infrastructure in AI development 

An extraordinary level of infrastructure investment is needed to support the development of the expanding AI network. Data centres and the energy assets to run them, fibre links and edge computing nodes, are among various sectors facing increased pressure to deliver more capacity, reliability, and efficiency while managing the environmental and community impacts that come with expansion.

As an example, global data centre investment this decade is projected to reach roughly $7 trillion, with the US accounting for an outsized share.¹ AI infrastructure is also increasingly shaping national development strategies, utility planning, and the broader evolution of the US power system.

The energy implications are even more significant. US data centre electricity use is expected to triple by 2030, adding roughly 460 terawatt-hours of demand – comparable to the annual consumption of a major industrialized nation.² The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is already warning of tightening reserve margins and elevated risks of capacity shortfalls as demand growth outpaces utility development.

These pressures are redefining where and how data centres can be developed. Power availability is becoming a binding constraint in established hubs, prompting developers to seek secondary markets with available transmission capacity and more flexible regulatory environments. At the same time, hyperscale campuses are growing larger and more power-dense, often spanning hundreds of acres and requiring loads in the hundreds of megawatts.

These factors reinforce the thesis that the AI boom is fundamentally an energy story. More compute requires more electricity, more generation, and more transmission. For investors, this is creating a multi-year, multi-layered opportunity across data centres, utility-scale power, on-site energy systems, grid modernization, land strategies, and the technologies that enable higher-density computing.³

Looking ahead

As AI becomes more integrated into the global economy, the infrastructure that supports it will evolve rapidly, presenting investors with both challenges and opportunities. Deeper technical literacy is required to understand how AI affects demand, performance, and risk as well as rigorous due diligence and flexibility in structuring to support new business models while maintaining prudent risk controls.

Infrastructure investing has always been about long-term stability, but as AI reshapes industries, that stability will increasingly depend on adaptability and foresight. Those who can bridge the divide between the digital and the physical will be best positioned to shape, and benefit from, the next phase of global progress.