Look Forward

Welcome to The Look Forward Podcast from S&P Global. In today's rapidly shifting markets, success depends on anticipating what's next. The professionals who excel are those who can spot emerging trends before they fully materialize. The Look Forward Podcast delivers exactly that—insights to help you prepare for tomorrow's opportunities and challenges. We bring you expert perspectives on macroeconomic trends, capital markets, energy transition, and global trade, with a sharp focus on what these developments mean for the decisions that will shape your tomorrow. This podcast connects you with S&P Global's Look Forward Council, bringing cutting-edge research on long-term trends and transformative market shifts. Together, we're committed to providing the forward-looking intelligence you need to navigate uncertainty with confidence.

  1. -3 Ч

    Credit Risks of The Current AI Data Center Infrastructure Investment Boom

    The exponential expansion of global AI investment looks set to continue at scale in 2026, with hyperscalers on track to spend $625 billion in aggregate data center capex by year-end. The boom is also lifting players that supply the ecosystem, with near-term demandoutstripping the supply of new data center capacity and corresponding investments materially boosting growth in the broader U.S. economy. Whether AI adoption and monetization will accelerate enough to turn this early investment‑led economic boost into lasting productivity and financial returns is yet to be seen.   But as funding for this expansion shifts from equity markets to debt markets (fueled largely by private credit), some risks have elevated—as a result, in part, from the surge of investments that increasingly rely on debt and the rise of increasingly complex and circular financing structures.   In this episode of the Look Forward Podcast, co-host Molly Mintz explores the credit risks of data center development with Pierre Georges, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure Research at S&P Global Ratings.   Their conversation explores the 2026 digital infrastructure outlook; analyzes the execution, financial, and contractual risks of the AI-driven data center buildout from a credit perspective; and highlights the development dynamics of power and grid bottlenecks, supply -chain constraints, and tensions between growth, affordability, and decarbonization. We also discuss S&P Global Ratings' view on what could lead to the emergence of winners and losers across the ecosystem, and the leading indicators to watch for an AI investment slowdown—including changes in enterprise adoption and monetization, supply and demand dynamics across the semiconductor supply chain, performance signals from key partners, the scale of hyperscalers' capex plans, and major players' investment behavior.  For more Look Forward content, please visit the Look Forward homepage.

    34 мин.
  2. 29 ЯНВ.

    AI, Energy, and Geopolitics: Insights from Davos 2026

    Amid geopolitical friction, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological disruption, the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos convenes global leaders around a "spirit of dialogue." In this episode of the Look Forward Podcast, host Molly sits down with S&P Global Ratings Chief Global Economist Paul Gruenwald and S&P Global Energy Chief Strategist Atul Arya, fresh to Switzerland, to unpack what mattered most—and what it signals for 2026.   Together, they explore how AI is "moving the macro needle" through a data-center investment boom, and whether the next phase will deliver the productivity gains markets are already pricing in. They also dig into AI's less-discussed constraint: power—from turbine shortages and transmission bottlenecks to rising electricity prices and the collision between hyperscalers' speed and the power sector's slower build cycle.   The conversation covers to energy markets and geopolitics, including why recent shocks haven't yet upended oil pricing, why the debate has shifted from energy transition to energy expansion, and how LNG and trade balances are becoming increasingly intertwined. Additionally, the interview covers how Davos attendees expressed attention to the erosion of trust in the global world order and why a more fragmented approach may become the status quo.   For more Look Forward content, please visit the Look Forward homepage.   More From Paul and Atul: Look Forward Journal: Data Center Frontiers The CERAWeek Podcast with Atul Arya Subscribe to Paul Gruenwald's "Essential Economics Newsletter" on Linkedin

    24 мин.

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Welcome to The Look Forward Podcast from S&P Global. In today's rapidly shifting markets, success depends on anticipating what's next. The professionals who excel are those who can spot emerging trends before they fully materialize. The Look Forward Podcast delivers exactly that—insights to help you prepare for tomorrow's opportunities and challenges. We bring you expert perspectives on macroeconomic trends, capital markets, energy transition, and global trade, with a sharp focus on what these developments mean for the decisions that will shape your tomorrow. This podcast connects you with S&P Global's Look Forward Council, bringing cutting-edge research on long-term trends and transformative market shifts. Together, we're committed to providing the forward-looking intelligence you need to navigate uncertainty with confidence.

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