Macquarie: Investor Demand for AI Will Speed Up Australian Capital Markets Deals

Macquarie, the Australian investment bank and the country's largest deal underwriter, said on 22 July 2026 that investor demand for companies in the artificial intelligence supply chain will speed up activity in Australia's capital markets.

What Macquarie said

Macquarie expects the number of capital markets deals in Australia to rise on the back of investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. According to Bloomberg, investor demand for exposure to companies along the entire AI supply chain, from energy and equipment suppliers to data center operators, will drive equity offerings, capital raisings and mergers and acquisitions. The bank gives its assessment as the country's largest underwriter, meaning the main intermediary that helps companies list on the exchange and raise money from investors.

Why investors are chasing AI

Investors are looking to play the artificial intelligence boom not only through big technology companies but also through adjacent industries. The AI supply chain includes chip makers, electricity suppliers, builders and operators of data centers, cloud infrastructure companies and software developers. For Australia's resource-heavy, energy-intensive economy, this means interest in the energy, infrastructure and mining companies that provide the physical foundation for computing. According to Macquarie, it is this broader demand, and not just bets on individual AI startups, that will fuel a new wave of deals on the ASX.

Investor demand for exposure to companies in the AI supply chain will speed up activity in

Australia's capital markets.

— Macquarie's position, according to Bloomberg

Where Australia fits in

Australia is one of the world's largest suppliers of raw materials critical to AI infrastructure: iron ore and steel for construction, lithium and rare earth metals for hardware, and uranium and gas for powering data centers. As demand for computing grows, so does demand for the energy and materials that the Australian economy produces. Investor interest in the AI supply chain therefore bears directly on local resource and energy companies, and by extension on the deals around them.

What has not been disclosed

Macquarie did not name specific amounts, timelines or deals in its published comment. Bloomberg presents the bank's view as a forecast of the market's general direction, without details on individual IPOs or amounts of capital raised. The scale of the expected activity therefore remains a qualitative assessment from the country's largest dealmaker, not a quantitative forecast. Capital markets are the mechanism through which companies raise money: initial public offerings (IPOs), follow-on share issues and bonds; an underwriter such as Macquarie organizes and guarantees such deals.

What it means

The AI frenzy is no longer confined to US tech exchanges. It is reaching regional capital markets such as Australia's, driving interest in the energy, infrastructure and raw materials that sit behind computing. For investment banks like Macquarie, this means a potentially busier year for deals.