What's New PitchBook's 2026 Artificial Intelligence Outlook declares the start of "The Great Competition Wars," identifying sectors where AI will generate outsized returns and others where overheating will destroy value. Winners will pursue network effects, unique data moats, exceptional design, and creative distribution strategies—while undifferentiated startups face "disproportionate value destruction." Why It Matters We are in the early stages of a 50-year technological

In a recent Alt Goes Mainstream The DNA podcast interview, Ken Wong—Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure at EQT—makes the case that applying private equity operational playbooks to infrastructure assets in developed Asia generates equity-like returns in a market that remains dramatically underpenetrated relative to Western counterparts.

AI reshaped private markets in 2025—both as an investment thesis and an operating reality. The industry poured hundreds of billions into data center infrastructure while simultaneously racing to deploy AI tools across deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio operations. But the year also revealed that capital isn't the constraint—power is.

According to Olivia Wassenaar, Partner and Head of Sustainability & Infrastructure at Apollo Global Management, the AI revolution is driving an unprecedented surge in power demand that traditional generation cannot match, creating what the firm's 2026 Infrastructure Outlook calls one of the most attractive opportunity sets in private markets as data centers' share of US electricity consumption is expected to double by 2030 and quadruple over the following decade.

What's New John Cortese, Partner and Co-Head of Corporate Credit at Apollo Global Management, argues in the firm's 2026 Credit Outlook that the technical backdrop defining credit markets has fundamentally shifted, as $1.5 trillion in announced hyperscaler capex and reviving M&A activity are flooding markets with new issuance—transforming what was a seller's market into one that rewards disciplined buyers with the broadest opportunity set in a decade. Why It Matters The conv

Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Investment Outlook 2026 reveals that private market valuations have reached record highs across buyout holdings and exits, yet the data masks significant underlying dispersion. While median multiples suggest elevated pricing, recent transaction activity has been skewed toward higher-quality companies commanding premiums.

Markets near historic highs demand disciplined investing as PE activity rebounds and AI drives USD 1T opportunity.

Electricity availability has overtaken capital as the primary constraint throttling data center expansion, threatening to bottleneck the artificial intelligence revolution despite hundreds of billions in committed hyperscaler spending. Matt A'Hearn, Senior Managing Director and Head of Digital Infrastructure at Blue Owl, warns on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast that power generation capacity—not financing or real estate—now determines where and how quickly AI infrastructure c

As U.S. federal and state debt levels climb and institutional investors seek inflation-protected, long-duration assets, infrastructure has emerged as one of private markets' fastest-growing categories—yet the massive opportunity to privatize government-owned assets remains largely untapped.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is projecting a return to 14% annual growth over the next five years—up from 10% recently—as normalizing interest rates and currency headwinds reverse while AI infrastructure deployment accelerates beyond anyone's expectations just a year ago, with hyperscaler capital expenditure exploding from $270 billion to $400 billion annually and chip power density increasing tenfold, forcing infrastructure investments the firm now estimates at over $7

Artificial intelligence infrastructure will require over $7 trillion in capital investment over the next decade—nearly ten times the $800 billion spent on internet fiber buildout—but grid capacity shortages rather than capital availability now threaten to constrain AI adoption, forcing a fundamental geographic inversion where training workloads move to remote power sources while inference demands urban proximity.

Must Know: Record Deal Activity Signals Private Markets Renaissance Bottom Line:   Electronic Arts' $55 billion leveraged buyout—the...

Private equity faces its worst crisis in decades as fundraising collapses and exit strategies fail. Over 18,000 funds chase $3.3 trillion while returns plummet from 13.5% to 0.8%. Firms explore retail democratization and continuation funds as traditional models break down across global markets.Retry

Jon Gray warns that artificial intelligence represents "the main thing" driving a new industrial revolution that will fundamentally reshape the global economy, creating massive investment opportunities while threatening to displace entire industries within years. The President and COO of Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager with $1.2 trillion under management, delivered this assessment to investors at the firm's 2025 CIO Symposium.

Must Know: Private Credit Surges as Traditional Asset Managers Struggle to Keep Pace Bottom Line:  Private credit firms are rapidly...

According to Blue Owl Capital's latest whitepaper, private capital firms are positioning themselves as essential partners in financing the AI-driven infrastructure boom, with data center capital expenditure in North America projected to reach nearly $7 trillion by 2030. The investment firm argues that traditional capital markets are straining under unprecedented AI-related spending, creating opportunities for alternative financing through build-to-suit development and sale-le

Infrastructure investing has evolved beyond passive ownership to require operational intensity and network-building capabilities.

The venture capital industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation as firms abandon traditional stage-focused investing in favor of comprehensive software investment platforms that can deploy capital from Series A through full buyouts. Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners, argues this "stage agnostic" approach provides superior market intelligence and better outcomes for both entrepreneurs and investors.

Global private equity dealmaking plunged in Q2 2025, with total announced investment dropping to $363.7B across 3,769 deals, the lowest volume since Q3 2020, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Private Equity Q2’25. The slowdown was most pronounced in Asia and the Americas, as investors delayed deals pending clarity on U.S. tariff policies — despite blockbuster U.S. transactions like Blackstone’s $11.5B TXNM Energy buyout.

Blue Owl Capital delivered a record-breaking Q2 2025 performance with $12.1 billion in equity fundraising and $284.1 billion in AUM (up 48% YoY), marking the 17th consecutive quarter of management fee and FRE growth. The alternative asset manager continues aggressive expansion through strategic acquisitions and new product launches, positioning itself at the intersection of AI infrastructure demand and private credit markets while successfully scaling institutional and privat