Episode summary
Brookfield’s Connor Teskey on the Real Bottleneck in the AI Buildout
Exchanges (Goldman Sachs)
· · 35 min · Hosts: Alison Mass · Guests: Connor Teskey
Summary
Connor Teskey argues that the real constraint in the AI buildout is not capital or demand, but operational execution: developing land, securing grid connections, and building reliable power supply. He says demand for AI infrastructure remains exceptionally high, and that even if growth slowed, the market would still face a major supply-demand imbalance. Brookfield is leaning into that opportunity across the US and Europe, with U.S. demand driven largely by hyperscalers and Europe increasingly shaped by sovereign AI, where nation-states step in to backstop infrastructure build-outs.
The conversation also frames Brookfield’s energy platform as having shifted from a climate-led story to a commercial one. Teskey says Brookfield does not take technology bets or accept lower returns for decarbonization, and instead focuses on serving customers that now want power in specific shapes, locations, and time frames. He says energy storage is the fastest-growing segment of the business, as customers value certainty and delivery over marginally lower power prices.
Teskey also discusses Brookfield’s credit expansion, including Oaktree, and says Brookfield prefers to build businesses internally when it can, but buys capabilities when they would be hard to replicate. More broadly, he says Brookfield’s edge comes from decentralized local expertise paired with centralized capital allocation, and from investing with downside protection, simplicity, and patience.
Key takeaways
- Teskey says the bottleneck in AI infrastructure is execution, not funding or demand, because land, grid access, and power build-out are the scarce inputs.
- He says Brookfield sees sovereign AI demand in France, Sweden, and Qatar, where governments are helping anchor data-center build-outs.
- Teskey says Brookfield’s energy business now sells most power directly to corporates, reflecting customers’ preference for delivery certainty over the lowest price.
- He says energy storage is Brookfield’s fastest-growing energy segment because batteries help offset renewable intermittency.
- Teskey says Brookfield bought Oaktree because credit was becoming a core pillar of private markets and would have been difficult to replicate quickly in-house.
- He says the alternatives industry should keep growing because institutional allocations are still rising and individual investors are only lightly penetrated today.
Notable quotes
“The bottleneck is who can actually pull these projects out of the ground”
“There is no shortage of capital and there is no shortage of demand”
“we call that sovereign AI”
“We don't take technology bets”
“our approach has always been driven by commercial”
How the episode opens
Demand has become the critical input to growth for every major company in every major country around the world and there is a scarcity of it. The growth we're seeing across critical infrastructure assets and the overwhelming need for energy around the world goes so far beyond simply artificial intelligence. Demand is up here and supply is down here.
Even if demand growth was to slow, even if it was to plateau, even if it was to decline , there would still be a huge supply demand imbalance to the providers. It is perhaps the greatest capital need in in the history of mankind. It's it's pretty exciting.
Welcome to Goldman Sachs Exchanges Great Investors. I'm Alison Mass. Today I'm sitting down with Connor Teskey, CEO Brookfield Asset Management.
Connor joined Brookfield in 2012 at age 24. 14 years later, he runs the entire asset management business managing approximately 1.3 trillion dollars across infrastructure, renewable power, real estate, private equity and credit while continuing to lead its energy group. In this episode, we discuss Connor's transition to the CEO seat, Brookfield's AI infrastructure buildout across the US and Europe and the firm's strategic expansion in credit.
Connor, welcome to Great Investors. It's so fantastic to have you here. Thank you for having us.
So across all those asset classes that you play in, is there one that you're most excited about right now? I I'm probably a little bit biased. Um I I have spent the last 10 years as as part of the energy team and a business that's grown very very rapidly.
I still lead that business today. I think if there was one theme across Brookfield that is quite dominant right now, it's energy and infrastructure. And and um, a lot of the in that space, uh, a portion of it is undoubtedly being driven by AI and AI infrastructure is a a huge theme at Brookfield, but the growth we're seeing across critical infrastructure assets and the overwhelming need for energy around the world goes so far beyond simply artificial intelligence.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai data center bottleneck
- energy and grid connections
- sovereign ai
- renewables transition
- alternative assets and private credit
Companies and tickers mentioned
- GS
- Brookfield Asset Management
- Goldman Sachs
- Oaktree Capital
Watch the episode
Watch “Brookfield’s Connor Teskey on the Real Bottleneck in the AI Buildout” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from Exchanges (Goldman Sachs)
-
Playing for Scale: The Future of Sports Investing -
Why Oil Prices Are Surging Despite Recovering Supply -
Where Chinese Exports Are Gaining the Most Market Share -
Inside the Revival of Venture Capital Liquidity with an Industry Pioneer -
How Family Businesses Should Plan for Generational Success -
Why Markets May Be Pricing in Too Many Fed Rate Hikes
Exchanges (Goldman Sachs), this episode and its artwork belong to Goldman Sachs. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
