Citi formed a new global group to focus further on opportunities in the artificial intelligence infrastructure space

(中央社財經訊息服務20260226 14:47:54)AI adoption is accelerating the demand for capital intensive computing and data centers with an unprecedented speed and scale, and by 2030, an estimated ~$3 trillion investment is needed to fund incremental Data Center and other infrastructure capacity. Sponsor-owned data center projects have scaled significantly, driving a shift in financing from equity to debt. During this build out period, debt financing will need a combination of bank debt, private credit, infrastructure and real estate financing and structured IG debt.

To better serve the clients as they look for strategic advice and financing to address this rapidly evolving opportunity, Citi is announcing the formation of AI Infrastructure Banking. This new team will ensure seamless collaboration across sectors, Technology, Communications, Energy & Power, Real Estate and Crypto, and with a dedicated financing team, ensure that Citi is evaluating all pockets of capital available.

The team will include the following:

• IB Coverage: Ric Spencer, Vice Chair of Technology, and Ashish Agrawal, Co-Head of Real Estate, will lead the effort across IB Coverage. Ric and Ashish will have accountability for driving cross-sector coverage of all AI Infrastructure related opportunities, and will work closely with Raimund Riedl, who leads Data Center coverage within Media & Communications, Sirisha Kadamalakalva and Anand Govind, who lead AI coverage within Technology, Joao Sousa within Real Estate, and other industry coverage bankers.

• M&A: Ben Mortimer will continue to lead the industry leading strategic advisory effort across Data Centers and related digital infrastructure.

• Financing: Alex Watkins, Head of Technology Financing, will lead the effort across Financing and drive efforts across DCM and ECM.

• Corporate Banking: Doug Baird, Head of Technology, will lead the effort across Corporate Banking, focusing on capital allocation and credit as well as overall relationship management and cross sell.

This new group will ensure seamless collaboration across industry coverage teams, and with dedicated financing team, break silos and evaluate all pockets of capital available. Building a leadership position in this space will have a significant positive impact on Citi’s client franchise across all sectors.