Rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital services is driving investment in data centres, creating financing opportunities and risks for banks.

The Data Centres and AI Services Sector Brief helps banks to build a common understanding of the data centre and AI services sector across key departments, supporting with client engagement, high-level transaction screening, portfolio and risk analysis, and sector strategy and policy.

This brief considers systemic and higher-order effects where they arise at the portfolio or strategy level, covering data centre infrastructure, the hardware lifecycle, and companies that operate dedicated computing capacity or commercial AI services. The brief explores these issues through the four UN Priorities for a Global Responsible Banking Sector of climate, nature, human rights, and healthy and inclusive economies, while also addressing circular economy and just transition considerations.

While not the primary subject of the brief, the paper also features four adjacent activities that shape the sustainability profile of a data centre: power generation, hardware supply chains, telecommunications and water and wastewater utilities.

The brief can be used by banks at different stages of the financing lifecycle including market overview, transactions or portfolios, financing structures, sustainability profiles of data centres and AI services, systemic and higher-order effects and regulatory and policy considerations.

This sector brief offers non-binding guidance on material sustainability and risk considerations that may be addressed through client relationships and financing structures, while complementing, rather than replacing, transaction-level due diligence. How the brief is applied will depend on, among other factors, the client’s role, the financing structure and jurisdictional considerations.