Since 2022, private equity's traditional LBO playbook has been hampered by high rates, frozen exits and weak distributions.

But the industry has shifted its focus to another opportunity.

Infrastructure funds had a record year in 2025. Fundraising surged 60%. Deal value grew 44%.

Why asset managers are diving into infrastructure:

Read the full breakdown below.

Fundraising hit ~$200B in 2025, surging 60% from the prior year and eclipsing the 2022 peak.

The rebound stands out amid continued weakness across private assets, particularly PE.

Investors are betting that infrastructure will be central to the economy’s biggest tailwinds: AI and the energy transition.

Digital Infrastructure Boom

The main driver of growth is no surprise: data centers.

As the AI boom continues, compute remains in tight supply. Goldman Sachs estimates data center utilization is running at ~90%.

Infrastructure funds and asset managers are racing to fill this gap.

As shown below, digital infrastructure has been the fastest growing segment of GP portfolios within the asset class.

Since 2023, data center M&A, asset sales and equity investment have quadrupled.

Notably, private equity is now involved in ~90% of data center M&A deals, up from ~50% in 2020 (Norton Rose).

Power & Utilities

Data centers have caused a material jump in electricity demand. But that's only part of the story.

As demand grows, more transmission infrastructure is needed to get electricity where it’s consumed.

Further, the growing queue for grid connections, sometimes stretching years, is pushing data centers to look into direct, off-the-grid generation.

Finally, corporate commitments to sustainable energy have made renewables a key part of generation growth.

All these factors have combined to drive private capital into utilities and renewables at record levels.

It’s no coincidence that five of the largest PE deals ever in utilities were announced over the last three years (Pitchbook).

A Rare Bright Spot

Infrastructure has emerged as a rare bright spot for struggling private markets.

And the forces driving investment aren't going away.

AI compute demand continues to grow, and power and related infrastructure need plenty of investment alongside it.

For investors, infrastructure offers direct exposure to the biggest economic shift in decades: AI.

A new winner in private markets is emerging.

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