Previously, many large technology corporations entered 2025 with a reserved mentality. Several technology finance companies such as Klarna and Chime have postponed or canceled their stock issuance plans, citing uncertainty from the newly announced tariff policy. This is called "Liberation Day" when many businesses stop large deals.
According to Ms. Christina Minnis - global credit finance director of Goldman Sachs, the atmosphere in the meeting rooms has changed, investor confidence has increased again, leading to the excitement of M&A deals.
A prominent field is AI, which requires huge infrastructure including data centers, power plants and communication networks. Bloomberg estimates that building this infrastructure will cost at least $1 trillion in the next decade. Ms. Minnis called the investment wave for AI as incredible, predicting that it will continue to attract large sums of capital for many years.
In the US, although the manufacturing sector has declined for 6 consecutive months as of August due to the impact of import taxes, spending on AI is helping some segments improve. In the second quarter, spending on intellectual property products increased the fastest in 4 years, while investment in equipment remained strong.
Experts predict this wave will continue, supported by the rapid depreciation policy in the tax and spending bill of the Donald Trump administration.
In Europe, tighter financial regulations are expected to limit the traditional role of banks in infrastructure financing. This paves the way for capital from investors in the stock market and bonds.
