Investment banks are benefiting from a wave of corporate funding tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure, with bankers reporting stronger deal flow and financing volume as companies move to build data centers and other capacity. The activity is producing lucrative fees across capital markets and lending businesses, according to bank executives.
Bankers pointed to several high-profile transactions that underscore the trend, including SK Hynix’s $26.5 billion American depositary receipt offering and SpaceX’s record $86 billion initial public offering, as well as related debt issuance. Those deals have contributed to a notable lift in fee income for banks engaged in AI-related work.
At the same time, equity markets have shown signs of strain in July, particularly in technology segments such as semiconductor makers, as investors reassess lofty valuations and the sustainability of the AI capital expenditure surge.
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon framed the situation as an extended investment phase. "The build-out of AI infrastructure remains in its early stages, and we believe this multi-year investment cycle will continue to drive elevated levels of strategic activity, financing, and capital formation across markets," he said on an earnings call. Solomon described the industry as "in the middle of an AI capex super cycle," noting demand across almost every financing instrument.
Goldman Sachs served as the lead left underwriter on the SpaceX IPO and is expected to play a significant role alongside Morgan Stanley in the upcoming listing of Anthropic. Rival OpenAI has also filed for a U.S. initial public offering, reflecting growing investor interest in AI companies seeking public-market exposure.
Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Ted Pick emphasized that expectations for data center capital expenditure have moved sharply higher. He told analysts that a forecast made late last year for data center CapEx of $575 billion this year is now tracking at about $850 billion. For 2027, a prior view of roughly $700 billion has been updated to $1.3 trillion, and 2028 could reach $1.5 trillion, Pick said.
The firm projects that cumulative AI-related CapEx could total as much as $10 trillion over many years. Pick noted that Morgan Stanley is positioned to serve as adviser, financier and allocator to companies in the sector, reflecting the bank’s multiple roles in deal underwriting, financing and capital placement.
Citi Chief Executive Jane Fraser told company investors that AI is "dominating a lot of the conversation," and that spending is accelerating across technology, data centers, energy and defense. Citigroup was a joint global co-ordinator on SK Hynix’s ADR offering and earned in excess of $70 million from the transaction.
Bank of America recently provided a $520 million credit line to OpenAI, marking its first loan to the AI company, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said the U.S. economy has shown resilience, supported in part by ongoing AI-driven investments as well as a strong consumer and easing energy costs, while noting that inflation and tighter monetary policy remain risks.
Bank of America reported that it has helped raise nearly $500 billion for AI-related companies since 2025, representing roughly 60% of such fundraising across investment-grade debt, leveraged finance and equity capital markets, based on internal data.
Analysts and industry researchers say the capex-led cycle is supporting multiple corners of financial markets. "The AI-driven capex super cycle has benefited equity issuance, M&A activity and debt financing," said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research.
Large banks have also been active in funding data centers. Meta Platforms is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase on a roughly $13 billion financing package for a data center in El Paso, Texas. JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said the bank is seeing respectable capital expenditure and loan demand from companies that are not directly AI businesses but have indirect links to the wave of data center construction.
"It's like the comments about data centers wind up creating a lot of demand for plumbers and electricians, so you wind up seeing it in sort of slightly non-obvious places," Barnum said, adding that it can be difficult to definitively label some of the demand as AI-related.
In sum, bank executives described a multi-year expansion in AI-related investment that is reshaping financing needs and supporting a wide array of capital markets activity, even as equity valuations and near-term market volatility present questions for specific technology segments.