Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) signalled Wednesday that it is preparing for further large-scale investments in data centres and related infrastructure as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) continues to surge.

BAM executives discussed their outlook during a conference call with analysts and reporters, following the release of the company’s latest quarterly earnings report.

The company, which has significant holdings in infrastructure, real estate, and energy, emphasized its strong position to both finance and develop major projects in the AI space.

“Trillions of dollars are needed to develop data centres, telecom towers, fibre, semiconductor manufacturing, automation assets, and, of course, power supply and transmission,” said Connor Teskey, president of Brookfield Asset Management.

“All at a time while governments and traditional capital sources remain constrained,”

He added that large-scale opportunities in AI-related infrastructure remain limited to firms with the necessary scale and capital to execute such projects.

“The key takeaways here are there’s still very, very significant demand from sovereigns and corporates for capital to invest in the infrastructure that supports the AI build-out going forward, and the reality of those large-scale opportunities is they’re not available to everyone,” said Teskey.

The company has already committed substantial resources to AI-related projects. Earlier this week, BAM announced plans to invest €20-billion by 2030 to expand AI capacity in France. The financial commitment includes a €15-billion investment in data-centre developments through Data4, a European data-centre operator acquired by Brookfield in 2023. The remaining €5 billion will go toward infrastructure supporting AI operations, such as data transfer, chip storage, and energy generation.

BAM is also making significant investments in renewable energy to address the growing power demands of AI. Last year, it reached an agreement with Microsoft to supply the technology giant with more than 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity between 2026 and 2030.

Bruce Flatt, BAM’s chair highlighted the role of renewable energy in meeting AI’s increasing electricity requirements.

“Renewables will be the biggest beneficiary of growing electricity demand because they are the cheapest option,” he told analysts and reporters during the conference call. “And, off-takers will always absorb as much of the cheapest source of power before turning to more expensive forms of power.”

Flatt also underscored the broader implications of AI-driven energy demand, stating that electricity-generation capacity will need to double in the coming years to keep up with the shift toward AI and automation.

Image: Brookfield Asset Management