NEW YORK - Wall Street is capitalizing on a technology boom. A rush by companies to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure is generating lucrative fees from capital raising, loans, and initial public offerings.
Bankers describe a "multi-year investment cycle." Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon stated the industry is in an "AI capex super cycle," driving elevated strategic and financing activity.
Recent high-profile deals include SpaceX's record $86 billion IPO and SK Hynix's $26.5 billion offering. Banks like Citigroup earned over $70 million from the SK Hynix sale alone.
The trend extends to new credit. Bank of America recently extended a $520 million credit line to OpenAI, its first loan to the AI company.
"The AI-driven capex super cycle has benefited equity issuance, M&A activity and debt financing," said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research.
This demand is broad. JPMorgan Chase is financing data centers, and Meta Platforms is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan on a roughly $13 billion package for a facility in Texas. The activity creates secondary demand for other industries.