Global Scans · Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure · Weekly Summary

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

• [New] SMRs are emerging as a major industrial development opportunity for Europe, with the potential to mobilize value chains across engineering, advanced materials, robotics, and finance. Baker McKenzie
• [New] In 2026 we will begin to see an inflection point where many MMC manufacturers break through the critical threshold of 70% capacity utilization, moving closer to the high output levels typical of established industrial manufacturing sectors. The Offsite Guide
• [New] Emissions from semiconductor manufacturing could rise by roughly a third to 247 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 as demand for high-bandwidth memory and related AI infrastructure accelerates. Tech Startups - Tech News, Tech Trends & Startup Fundin
• [New] Government policies, such as the New South Wales Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, are being implemented to ensure sufficient grid-scale infrastructure is in place before coal plant retirements, thereby reducing reliability and system security risk. AEMC
• [New] 80% of warehouses will adopt robotics or automation by 2028, while the International Federation of Robotics reported 575,000 new industrial robots installed in 2025. Inclusion Cloud
• [New] Remote work adoption increased from 16% of employees in 2019 to 35% in 2024, with expectations for hybrid arrangements exceeding 60% by 2027, directly creating infrastructure demand for digital signature platforms supporting asynchronous, geographically distributed transaction workflows. Persistence Market Research
• [New] The United States could see data-center power consumption surge by more than 100% before the 2030s, signaling a major resource and infrastructure challenge for AI-enabled sectors. MEXC
• [New] Industry forecasts project that installations may falter slightly in 2026, but development will pick up again in the near term with approximately 93 GW expected to be installed in the next five years. JD Supra
• [New] Approximately 65% of surveyed industry leaders expect fundamentals such as leasing activity, rental rates, and vacancies to improve through 2026. The CCIM Institute
• [New] AI infrastructure spending alone is projected to reach $700 billion in 2026. Triad City Beat
• [New] In an industry where global digital advertising spend is projected to exceed $870 billion by 2026, Meta's move into business messaging unlocks new, recurring revenue streams and reduces reliance on volatile ad markets. Value Sense
• [New] The US is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period, due to rapid advancements in technology adoption, strengthened security mandates, and aggressive modernization of public and private infrastructure. SecurityWorldMarket.com
• [New] In 2026, Retrieval-Augmented Generation will move from experimental innovation to a foundational capability that reshapes how organizations operate and interact with AI. vmblog.com
• [New] Gartner's latest outlook emphasizes that AI infrastructure spending is forecast to surpass $1.3 trillion in 2026, signaling a paradigm shift from episodic, model-centric hype to a sustained, infrastructure-led growth model. Stanford Tech Review
• [New] AI infrastructure spending is forecast to surpass $1.3 trillion in 2026, underscoring how critical the hardware layer has become to the AI value chain. Stanford Tech Review
• [New] Gartner's and Deloitte's AI spend forecasts reinforce that the economics of AI infrastructure will dominate IT budgeting for years to come, so investments should be disciplined with clear ROI models and risk controls. Stanford Tech Review
• [New] AI Capex and Margin Compression: Tesla's pivot requires massive capital expenditure, with 2026 AI infrastructure spending projected at $20 billion to scale Dojo and NVIDIA clusters. Bingx Exchange
• [New] Global subsea infrastructure is entering one of its busiest periods in more than a decade, with around 40 submarine cable systems expected to enter service in 2026. Subsea Cables
• [New] NEXT 2026 will bring together industry leaders, executives, developers, IT professionals, and thought leaders to explore the intersection of enterprise AI, distributed data, modern IT, and cloud native innovation. Barchart.com
• [New] The Energy Information Administration projected an increase of 5% to 32% in the US industrial sector's energy consumption from 2022 to 2050, underscoring the demand for services such as drilling, well completion, and production optimization. Yahoo Finance UK
• [New] Blockchain will facilitate a move away from systems-based infrastructure into a world of network-based architecture that allows for greater interoperability and programmability. J.P. MORGAN
• [New] The rapid expansion of green hydrogen infrastructure represents one of the most significant growth opportunities for Platinum Group Metals between 2026 and 2033. Persistence Market Research

Last updated: 22 March 2026