The $1 trillion-plus annual AI capex “arms race” is quietly powering a broad capex supercycle that reaches far beyond chips, into energy, infrastructure, networking hardware and new “safe haven” asset classes, according to DBS Bank.
Global markets are being reshaped by two investment turbines: massive AI capex and a parallel energy capex build-out. DBS Bank notes that combined capex at Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft has surged about 200% since the launch of ChatGPT, with 2026 guidance lifting to around $725 billion, nearly double 2025 levels. On top of commercial cloud demand, governments are racing to build “sovereign AI” as they treat AI infrastructure and semiconductor capability as strategic national assets, with McKinsey estimating a $500–600 billion total addressable market for sovereign AI by 2030.
