The Next Chapter of the Australian Sharemarket

How global trends, new industries and changing policy could reshape Australia’s sharemarket over the next decade.

For decades, the Australian sharemarket has been defined by a familiar group of companies. Banks generated dependable income, miners rode the economic cycle, retailers reflected consumer spending and healthcare steadily expanded alongside an ageing population.

Those sectors are unlikely to disappear. But history suggests that markets rarely stay dominated by the same industries forever.

The next decade could look very different.

Rather than asking which individual company might outperform, it may be more useful to ask a bigger question:

What industries will Australia’s economy need more of in the years ahead?

 

Australia is becoming an infrastructure market

Artificial intelligence, electrification, energy security and digital transformation all have one thing in common.

• They require enormous amounts of physical infrastructure.
• When most people think about AI, they think about ChatGPT, Microsoft or Nvidia.
• But behind every AI model sits an enormous physical supply chain.
• It needs semiconductor chips.
• It needs memory.
• It needs networking equipment.
• It needs data centres.
• It needs cooling systems.
• Most importantly, it needs electricity.

 

Australia is increasingly well positioned to participate in that infrastructure build-out.

Companies involved in data centres, industrial property, electricity networks and supporting infrastructure are becoming increasingly important parts of the market. At the same time, governments and private industry continue investing heavily in energy networks and digital infrastructure to support future demand.

Policy matters more than many investors realise

Markets don’t operate in isolation, government policy often shapes where investment flows. Several long-term trends appear likely to influence Australia’s listed companies over the coming decade.

Energy security

Reliable electricity has become a strategic asset. As demand from data centres, manufacturing and electrification grows, significant investment will be required in generation, storage and transmission infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence

AI is rapidly becoming an economic infrastructure story rather than simply a software story.

Supporting this growth requires billions of dollars of investment in computing infrastructure, data centres and electricity networks. Australia’s pipeline of data centre investment has expanded rapidly, reflecting these structural changes.

Defence spending

Many developed nations are increasing defence expenditure, creating long-term demand across engineering, advanced manufacturing, energy and critical minerals.

Why AI Infrastructure is the standout

Capital being invested ★★★★★

We’re seeing investment on a scale Australia has rarely experienced.

Revenue growth ★★★★★

Demand continues to accelerate.

Gartner forecasts:

• Australian data-centre systems spending growing 5% in both 2025 and 2026.
• Server spending increasing 30% in 2026, largely driven by AI infrastructure.

Profit growth ★★★★★

While profitability varies by company, operators with existing infrastructure are generally seeing expanding earnings as utilisation increases and hyperscale customers commit to long-term capacity.

The important point is that AI demand creates recurring, infrastructure-like revenue streams rather than one-off sales.

Government support ★★★★☆

Governments increasingly view AI infrastructure as strategic national infrastructure.

Recent initiatives include:

• Australia’s National AI Plan
• Federal expectations for AI infrastructure developers
• Microsoft–Australian Government AI collaboration agreement
• State planning reforms to accelerate data-centre development.

Private investment ★★★★★

This is perhaps the strongest signal.

Private capital is committing tens of billions of dollars before all the demand has even arrived.

The ABS recently reported that Australia’s March 2026 surge in business capital expenditure was driven largely by investment in data-centre equipment, with information media and telecommunications investment reaching record levels.

The Bottom Line

The next decade may belong to infrastructure. AI simply happens to be the catalyst.

The companies that build data centres, manufacture transformers, install cooling systems, lay fibre, generate electricity and supply semiconductors. Those businesses often have very different risk and return profiles, and they may continue to benefit as long as the underlying infrastructure build-out persists, regardless of which AI models ultimately lead the market. To Learn about some of those companies, check out the Investing in the Infrastructure Behind the AI Boom article.