Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Oct 30, 2026 · 35m · 26m saved
With Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management
Photo via brookfield.com
Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, told Goldman Sachs Exchanges: Great Investors that demand for AI infrastructure and the power behind it is so far ahead of supply that a slowdown, a plateau or even a decline in demand growth would still leave a large shortfall. Markets sell off when a more efficient model comes out or a hyperscaler walks away from a data center lease. Connor said that reaction does not match what Brookfield sees on its own projects.
"That is not the bottleneck. There is no shortage of capital, and there is no shortage of demand. The bottleneck is who can actually pull these projects out of the ground." — Connor Teskey
Connor joined Brookfield in Toronto in 2012 at 24, spent a decade building its energy business, and now runs an asset manager of about $1.3 trillion across infrastructure, renewable power, real estate, private equity and credit. The interview was recorded on September 16 and published on October 30.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 35 minutes of audio, 9 minutes of reading.
Here are the 9 arguments that matter.
Key Takeaways
AI infrastructure demand is so far above supply that even falling demand growth would leave a gap
The scarce input is the ability to deliver projects, not capital or demand
Land, a grid connection, power supply, a large-scale "gigafactory" and redundancy
Governments are now the first buyer for AI infrastructure outside the US
Brookfield has signed agreements in France, Sweden and Qatar
Energy storage is Brookfield's fastest-growing energy business, and most of its power now goes to corporations
Brookfield's Oaktree deal began as a junior analyst's idea to buy a few shares
Individual investors hold 2% or less in alternatives, against institutions in the mid-teens
1. Demand Is Not Fragile
Alison Mass, Chairman of Investment Banking in Goldman Sachs Global Banking & Markets, hosts the series. Connor opened on the size of what infrastructure and energy need: "It is perhaps the greatest capital need in the history of mankind."
Connor says the market's view of AI demand as fragile does not match what Brookfield sees
"It's that the demand for AI infrastructure and the demand for the energy that supports it is in some way fragile... That seems a little divorced from what we're seeing on the ground." — Connor Teskey
The gap between demand and supply is wide enough that a change in the growth rate would not close it.
"Demand is up here, and supply is down here. And therefore, even if demand growth was to slow, even if it was to plateau, even if it was to decline, there would still be a huge supply-demand imbalance." — Connor Teskey
