Wall Street banks ride AI super‑cycle, boost deals and financing

Wall Street investment banks are seeing a surge in fees as technology companies fund AI infrastructure. Major transactions include SK Hynix’s $26.5 billion ADR offering and SpaceX’s record $86 billion IPO, with banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America acting as underwriters, co‑ordinators or lenders. Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon said, “The build‑out of AI infrastructure remains in its early stages… we are in the middle of an AI capex super‑cycle.” Citi CEO Jane Fraser added that AI is “dominating a lot of the conversation” across tech, data‑centers, energy and defence spending.

Banks are also accelerating the deployment of agentic AI digital assistants to increase productivity. Morgan Stanley plans to test digital assistants for client interaction, BNY Mellon has given its AI “Payment Pete” a login and human manager, and UBS’s AI agents generate thousands of alerts for advisors. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are developing AI agents for tasks ranging from trading to client onboarding, while Citi prepares an AI‑enabled virtual wealth‑management team member. These initiatives aim to shift more advisory time to client‑facing work and streamline routine processes.