With a number of investment managers positive about infrastructure investing in 2026, PwC has released a new report predicting a sharp rise in investment in AI infrastructure.

Global investment in infrastructure for artificial intelligence will hit a record $31.6 trillion through to 2050, according to projections in PwC's Global Data Centre Outlook.

Annually, data center capital expenditure is forecast to rise from about $800 billion per annum in 2026 to $1.8 trillion per annum in 2050.

Recurring chip upgrades, not construction, will drive the majority of long-term capital investment. Power will also be the decisive factor shaping AI infrastructure investment flows. Disrupted trade flows for chips could cut global investment by nearly 20 per cent, while a growing sovereignty push would redistribute rather than reduce global investment.

PwC commissioned Oxford Economics to model data center capital expenditure to support the analysis. It covers 46 countries and territories, which represent a majority of global economic activity and digital infrastructure investment.

The US, which is central to the advanced-chip ecosystem, is expected to capture almost half (48 per cent) of the investment, at $15.1 trillion, the outlook shows. Behind the US, Chile and Canada emerge as the region’s clearest sustainability-anchored plays: Chile has competitively priced renewable energy underpinned by abundant solar resources, and Canada has grid stability and a renewable energy base that support northward expansion of US hyperscaler infrastructure.

Asia Pacific is expected to account for $8.2 trillion cumulative capex, below its share of global GDP. China and India are the largest sources of demand, supported by large populations, expanding digital economies, and substantial headroom for AI to embed in business and consumer activity. China remains one of the few markets with the scale and focus to support large-scale training workloads. The region has the widest proportional swing of any in the forecast, rising 69 per cent under faster adoption and falling 34 per cent under slower adoption. Outcomes within the region are uneven. Markets with deeper domestic demand and more diversified workloads, including Japan and Australia, prove more resilient; those most dependent on internationally mobile AI workloads are more exposed, the outlook reveals.

Meanwhile, sovereign AI strategies are accelerating investment in Europe and the Middle East. However, Europe is punching below its economic weight. The region’s $5.6 trillion in cumulative capex represents a share lower than its proportion of global GDP. The reasons are largely self-inflicted: power constraints, planning friction, and fragmented regulation across countries in the region, the report states.

The Nordics are emerging as credible alternatives to more constrained Western European hubs, supported by renewable heavy grids, climates that reduce cooling loads, and electricity prices that are 40 to 50 per cent below those in other parts of Europe. Ireland’s Large Energy-User Action Plan also signals the direction of travel elsewhere in the region: data center siting is increasingly conditional on renewable integration and grid investment commitments.

Although the Middle East’s $1.1 trillion in capex is small in dollar terms, it’s a share roughly in line with the region’s contribution to GDP. The Middle East’s share is also the fastest growing on a CAGR basis, due to both its lower existing installed base of data centers and its ability to compress building timelines by aligning energy, capital, planning, and developer pipelines through a single coordinated front door.

Africa’s $255 billion in cumulative capex sits slightly below its share of global GDP, but the growth profile tells a more constructive story, the report continues. South Africa anchors the region with the most established data center base. Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana are among the most promising emerging markets. Kenya has carved out a distinctive position through a power grid that is about 95 per cent renewable, becoming a sustainably powered data center market.

Unlike traditional infrastructure booms, which taper off after the initial build out, AI infrastructure investment is expected to accelerate as chips and other ICT equipment require upgrades every few years. ICT equipment will account for an increasing share of investment, from 70 per cent today to 93 per cent by 2050, the report reveals.

The outlook identifies five factors that will direct where investment flows globally. The most important of these is power, as affordable, reliable and low-carbon electricity at scale is the hardest requirement for many markets to deliver. Connectivity, security, policy certainty and community consent, along with GPU access, will also influence where investment lands, the report shows.

“AI infrastructure is becoming one of the defining capital allocation challenges of the next generation,” Clara Cutajar, global infrastructure leader, PwC Australia, said. “It cuts across technology, energy, real estate, supply chains, regulation and financing. This changes how infrastructure investors need to think about capital requirements, risk and returns.”

The analysis also tested two scenarios to assess how changes in trade policy, export controls and digital sovereignty could affect global AI infrastructure investment. In the first scenario, tighter export controls disrupt global chip supply chains. Annual investment falls to around half the central forecast by 2030 before gradually recovering as supply chains adapt. Even with that recovery, cumulative global investment through 2050 is projected at around $25.5 trillion, about $6 trillion less than the central forecast of $31.6 trillion.

The second scenario paints a different picture. Rather than significantly reducing overall investment, greater emphasis on digital sovereignty and trusted domestic infrastructure changes where capital is invested. Total global spending reduces only slightly, but investment shifts toward countries with strong domestic demand and relatively underdeveloped data center capacity as governments and regulated industries prioritize local infrastructure.

“The AI build out is not a rising tide that will naturally lift all boats. Capturing this investment requires active positioning. Investors should recognize data centers as hybrid assets with a complicated risk profile,” Cutajar added.

Sydney-based Charles Hamieh at ClearBridge Investments also recently highlighted the benefits of investing in listed infrastructure, saying that electrification, industrialization, reshoring, AI, data centers are all contributing to the need for more power. “The outlook for listed infrastructure is very positive,” Hamieh said. “The biggest change in the last five to eight years is growth in global electricity demand [which is] driven by data centers, AI, and accelerating industrial activity,” he continued. “After a long period of flat or negative electricity demand growth, especially in Europe, electrification, industrialization, reshoring, data centers are all contributing to the need for more power. The opportunity is quite broad. It requires regeneration, fuel supply, transmission, and storage capacity.”

However, after New York suspended the construction of major data centers, blaming their high consumption of energy and water, in line with a number of investment managers, Hamieh thinks that more such restrictions could happen in North America. “There has to be a stepping back and a proper analysis of the data centers,” he said. “There are a lot of economic benefits in the regions where data centers are growing like Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia but it needs to be managed.”