NAB Morning Call Weekend Edition: Brookfield's Upson on AI's $7 trillion opportunity
Mar 13, 2026
Stuart Upson, Co-President of Brookfield Infrastructure and global AI strategy lead, oversees renewable, nuclear and data center investments. He discusses AI as a technological flywheel and a $7 trillion, decade-long infrastructure opportunity. He covers the shift from data centers to AI compute and data factories, why energy is the key bottleneck, and how large-scale partnerships and contracts de-risk this buildout.
AI Snips
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Transcript
Episode notes
AI Is Underhyped Not Overhyped
- Upson believes AI is underhyped relative to its long-term productivity impact despite hype and unknowns.
- He argues history's tech shifts displaced labor then raised productivity, and governments will need policies to manage the transition.
Chip Efficiency Offsets Energy Demand Growth
- Rapid chip efficiency gains can offset rising demand for compute and energy.
- Upson points to successive Nvidia releases delivering multiples of efficiency improvements that lower electricity per unit of compute.
Keep Infrastructure Investing Simple
- Keep infrastructure investing simple: build efficient assets and secure long-term contracts with high-credit counterparties.
- Brookfield focuses on leases to hyperscalers or governments and prices capital to the risk of those contracts.