Goldman Sachs predicts big AI investments and more business deals

Goldman Sachs has projected that the second half of 2025 will see a rise in business deals and a huge wave of spending on artificial intelligence (AI).

Big tech companies stepped into 2025 with a visible sense of hesitation. Many of them, worried about the instability in the markets due to US trade tariffs, delayed major deals.

For example, fintechs Klarna and Chime both pulled or delayed their plans to start selling shares to the public on the stock market. Both companies claimed to have come to this decision due to concerns over US tariffs.

April 2nd was the so-called “Liberation Day” when new tariffs were announced and businesses stopped making big deals, such as buying other companies or selling shares to the public, Reuters reported.

Goldman Sachs – one of the biggest and well-known investment banks, claims that the situation now seems to be changing for the better and will likely remain so as the world moves into 2026.

Christina Minnis, the bank’s global head of credit finance, told Bloomberg, that companies are once again showing interest in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) after a slow and uncertain start to the year.

She noted that boardrooms and investors are becoming more confident, and as a result, dealmaking is “really picking up.”

Another area where businesses show more activity compared to the first half of the year is AI. As the technology develops, it requires extra infrastructure, such as data centers and power plants to produce electricity, and communication networks to support it.

Bloomberg predicts that building this infrastructure will cost at least $1 trillion over the next decade. Minnis called this rush to build AI infrastructure “incredible,” saying it will drive a significant amount of financing in the years to come.

This renewed optimism in dealmaking and AI infrastructure investment is also showing up on the factory floor.

US manufacturing contracted for a sixth straight month in August as factories continued to grapple with the impact of import tariffs, but an AI spending boom is lending support to some segments of the industry.

Despite the persistent weakness in the PMI (a measure of the economic health of the manufacturing sector), businesses have been boosting spending on AI products, which is helping to offset some of the drag from import duties.

Spending on intellectual property products grew at its fastest pace in four years in the second quarter, while investment in equipment was strong. Economists expect the AI spending spree to continue, with factories also likely to get a boost from accelerated depreciation allowances on investments in President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill.

In Europe, stricter regulations are expected to limit banks’ traditional role in funding infrastructure, which means that more of the funding will come from investors in the stock and bond markets.