The American infrastructure investment market has seen continued strength in data center and battery storage sectors but a further drop in its wider attractiveness amidst political gridlock, unpredictability, and increasingly antagonistic foreign policy.
America has long been seen as the ‘go to’ market for infrastructure investment due to its vast geographic scale, traditionally strong industry, and the trillions of dollars in both domestic and foreign capital primed to be pumped into new projects.
However, despite America’s longstanding top position, the Global Infrastructure Investor Association’s (GIIA) bi-annual Pulse Survey shows how investor sentiment towards the country has fluctuated since 2022 – falling to an all-time low since the survey began in 2020.
GIIA’s regular survey of its membership, which comprises the world’s leading infrastructure investors, is intended to gauge sector attractiveness, challenges, and deal flow across the world’s biggest infrastructure markets.
The continued survey trend of the U.S.’ unpredictable attractiveness over time can be closely tied to the fluctuations in US policy and legislation. For example, previously sliding in the wake of global tariffs before recovering at the end of 2025 amidst the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act which saw the removal of key planks of infrastructure related incentives.
Meanwhile, investor sentiment towards Canada surpassed the U.S. for the first time to become the most attractive market for infrastructure investment globally. Within Europe, Germany has also overtaken the US, rising to second place overall.
Many of these international markets are becoming more competitive through clear policy initiatives to boost and roll out new infrastructure projects, such as Germany’s $500bn infrastructure funding package and the new Canadian administration’s ‘Nation Building’ program.
Despite America’s continued fundraising attractiveness, with GIIA members describing the country as four to five times the aggregated value of any comparable market, many late-stage deals are not closing or converting.
It is unclear exactly what is causing American deals to stagnate, but much can be attributed to federal inaction and regulatory fragmentation. This, combined with a lack of a pipeline of federal public-private partnerships, may also explain why investors and the wider sector are increasingly looking towards state-level delivery as a resilient alternative.
One of the positive stories which comes out of the U.S., is that the country continues to excel compared to the rest of the world in the current data center development boom. The U.S. currently holds three times the investment pipeline in this subsector compared to any other region.
Jon Phillips, Chief Executive of GIIA, said:
“Many of the key investment fundamentals remain in place in the American market but we’re seeing the emergence of a two-track environment for infrastructure investment.
“The opportunity hasn’t disappeared for America, which remains the biggest global investment market with trillions poised and ready to be deployed. But capital is currently having to be deployed selectively, with investors increasingly turning their focus towards state level, where policy is evolving even amidst federal level challenges and gridlock. It’s promising that local appetite exists, including for public private partnership, which provides a real chance to build a stronger America for future generations.
“It’s clear from the latest temperature test in U.S. market attractiveness that ongoing policy uncertainty and predictability is negatively impacting deal flow.”
Assets
Survey methodology
The Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA) has run its Pulse Survey in collaboration with infrastructure advisors Alvarez & Marsal on a six-monthly basis since 2020 to understand the sentiment of investors towards the environment for fundraising, the outlook and prospects for markets and industry sectors, the impact of barriers to investment, and emerging investment trends.
Investor members of GIIA respond to an online survey that contains a series of closed-ended questions. Interviews are also conducted with selected respondents to secure additional qualitative, which further build a picture of the investor mood. This edition of the GIIA Pulse Survey was completed with 28 total survey responses – representing a combined infrastructure assets under management of $1 trillion. All individual responses and involvement remain anonymized for commercial reasons.
About the Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA)
GIIA unifies the strength of the world’s leading infrastructure investors and advisors into one powerful, global voice. Since launch in 2016, it has grown from 19 founding organisations to nearly 140 members, representing over $2.2 trillion of infrastructure assets under management across 68 countries.
GIIA helps governments and policymakers worldwide to create the policy and regulatory frameworks that lead to attractive investment environments, enabling the private sector to deploy capital and expertise to deliver infrastructure projects that meet public needs and expectations. Reducing obstacles to P3s and private ownership of infrastructure means governments’ plans for modernisation, operation and maintenance can more readily be achieved.