YEREVAN, July 17. /ARKA/. Energy infrastructure companies are actively raising funds through IPOs this year, capitalizing on investor interest in assets they consider promising amid the boom in energy-intensive data centers for AI development, writes Finmarket, citing the Financial Times.
According to Dealogic data, the total volume of IPOs by companies in this sector reached $12.6 billion in the first half of 2026. This is the highest for a half-year since the peak of the dot-com bubble at the end of 1999 and a record for the first half of the year.
The volume of placements exceeds the total figure for all of 2025, when sector companies conducted IPOs totaling $4.3 billion.
The need to ensure access to huge amounts of energy for data centers is becoming a serious problem for the AI industry, FT writes.
“Initially, investors were buying shares of AI-related companies like Nvidia. Then they realized that chip operations require energy resources,” notes RBC renewable energy sector analyst Chris Dendrinus. “This has become a powerful stimulus for interest in energy infrastructure companies.”
A typical AI-focused data center consumes 876,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, comparable to the annual consumption of households in cities like Glasgow or Salt Lake City.
According to forecasts by consulting firm ICF, electricity demand in the U.S. will grow by 39% from 2026 to 2035, primarily due to increased consumption from data centers.
Among the companies in the sector that launched IPOs in the first half of the year are American Forgent Power Solutions, which manufactures electrical distribution equipment used in data centers, raising $1.7 billion in February.
German gas engine manufacturer Innio launched an IPO worth $2.8 billion in June. Its technologies and products are used by data centers directly on their premises to bypass overloaded power grids.
