A $725 billion spending wave could reshape far more than the technology sector.
Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms are collectively expected to allocate roughly that amount to capital expenditures in 2026 as they race to build the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence (AI). Much of that money is expected to flow into data centres, chips, cloud capacity, and the systems that support AI growth.
Yet the bigger story could be who owns the infrastructure underneath it.
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Land over everything
Data centres need land, power, fibre, and cooling. They need reliable connections to customers and grids. Furthermore, they need huge amounts of capital from investors willing to fund projects that can take years to develop.
The International Energy Agency expects data centre electricity consumption to roughly double from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 950 terawatt-hours in 2030. AI-focused data centres are expected to grow even faster, with electricity consumption tripling over that period.
That turns the data centre boom into a classic infrastructure problem. It’s simply not enough for companies to order more chips. Those chips need to sit inside buildings connected to power and communications networks. The companies that can finance, own, and operate those assets could become long-term winners.
BIP
For Canadian investors, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX:BIP.UN) looks like one of the clearest ways to invest in that trend.
BIP stock owns and operates essential assets across utilities, transport, midstream, and data infrastructure. The company’s portfolio is built around long-life assets with contracted or regulated revenue, which is exactly the kind of structure investors often want when chasing a long-term theme.
The data centre angle is not small. BIP stock says its infrastructure network includes telecom towers, fibre optic cable, and data centres around the world. It lists 308,000 operational telecom sites, 77,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, and 150 data centres.
BIP stock also says it develops and operates data centres across multiple continents through platforms including Compass and Data4. Together, those businesses support more than 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of contracted capacity and more than 3.5 GW of development potential.
More to come
During the first quarter of 2026, BIP stock said its $5 billion strategic partnership with Bloom Energy to install up to one GW of behind-the-meter power generation had advanced further. The company signed an additional $430 million capital expenditure project, bringing total committed capital expenditures under that framework to about $1.6 billion.
The broader BIP stock platform has since expanded its Bloom Energy AI infrastructure power partnership to $25 billion. The agreement is meant to finance power projects for AI infrastructure as data centre operators look to fuel cells, nuclear, renewables, and other power sources to meet rising demand.
To fund all this, BIP stock generated funds from operations (FFO) of US$709 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from US$646 million a year earlier. FFO per unit rose to US$0.90 from US$0.82. The data segment was the standout. BIP stock said FFO from its data segment increased 46% year over year in the first quarter. BIP stock also gives investors income while they wait. Brookfield Infrastructure declared a 6% increase in its dividend from the prior year, now yielding 4.9% at writing.
Bottom line
The long-term setup remains attractive. AI spending may start with chips and cloud software, but the real buildout needs data centres, fibre, land, power, and capital. BIP stock sits closer to that foundation than most TSX stocks.
A pullback could give long-term investors a better chance to buy the infrastructure behind the AI boom while the $725 billion buildout is still unfolding.
