John Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, Inc., at the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong, China, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. This year’s event will bring together approximately 280 global financial leaders, including approximately 120 group chairs and CEOs, with key themes including market outlook, the global economy, and rapid advances in technology. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Building artificial intelligence infrastructure will require more equity financing as lenders become increasingly exposed to the companies driving the build. black stone President John Gray said Tuesday.
Speaking at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit, Gray said the scale of capital required for AI creates concentration risks for fixed income investors, both across the sector and in individual companies.
Unlike shareholders, who can benefit from a company’s growth, lenders have limited upside because their profits are primarily limited to interest and principal repayments, he said.
More capital will be needed across the sector to meet these huge demands.
john gray
Blackstone Co., Ltd. President and COO
Speaking on the same panel, Pimco CEO Emmanuel Roman warned investors that the scale of AI lending could be “too large” for the market to absorb.
Roman cited estimates from General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford that AI-related capital spending could reach about $10 trillion over the next five years. He added that about $550 billion of AI bonds have been issued in various forms so far this year.
Even with a combination of equity and debt financing, the amount needed would be “huge,” Roman said, comparing it to the global corporate bond market of about $20 trillion.
“At some point, it’s going to become too much,” he said.
Global data center demand will require approximately $8.5 trillion in capital investment over the next five years. goldman sachs he wrote in a report Monday.
Gray said companies are increasingly turning to structured deals to limit the amount of debt they take on, and financing for expansion will require a combination of public markets, banks and private capital. He said cash generated by hyperscalers would also help pay for some of the spending.
“The sheer scale of capital requires creativity,” Gray said.
Despite these funding challenges, Gray remained bullish on AI infrastructure, saying demand for computing power “significantly exceeds supply.”
Spending on AI models across Blackstone’s portfolio companies has increased 20x in the past year as companies see economic benefits from using things like coding, customer engagement and content creation, he said.
But meeting that demand remains difficult, Gray said, as land, permits, chips, power and capital are becoming more difficult to secure.
