“Digital infrastructure in 10 years’ time will be characterised in large part by more distributed architectures – whether that be data centres in edge markets, private and localised 5G/6G wireless networks serving manufacturing hubs, or increased small cell density in non-Tier 1 cities. Investment will be increasingly dictated by power and siting scarcity and milliseconds of latency from end users, requiring neutral host models, high levels of energy efficiency and long-term investment horizons to ensure adequate returns on capital for the builders and consumers of these next-generation architectures.”

Cyrus Gentry
Managing director, head of communications, Europe
Stonepeak

“Digital infrastructure is already must-have infrastructure. Over the next decade and beyond, scalable, adaptable, resilient and secure digital infrastructure will become the ‘new normal’. Usage will remain high during good times and bad, irrespective of pandemic, geopolitics, supply chains or climate change.

Ever-increasing data transmission requirements, and the complexity of current and future digital applications – both for everyday use and industrial applications – will strain networks, storage and processing beyond their current capabilities. Keeping pace with this change will require investment by digital infrastructure owners and customers. We expect stable, long-term growth and investment, from 5G to 6G and beyond.”

Omar Jaffrey
Managing partner and founder
Palistar Capital

“As we move forward, I expect we will see newer digital infrastructure sub-verticals like fibre, edge computing and small cells transition becoming mainstream. This will naturally reflect the direct correlation between pricing and return expectations.

The definition of digital infrastructure has now expanded from towers, small cells, fibre and data centres to include edge computing, cloud computing, managed services, outdoor media infrastructure and ground lease buyout strategies. I believe we will continue to see an expansion of this sector into new sub-verticals over the next decade, provided that these new sub-verticals continue to fit the definition of an infrastructure asset.

Finally, as 5G becomes more prevalent and continues to roll out, it will drive growth across all spectrums of the digital infrastructure space.”

Steven Sonnenstein
Senior managing director
DigitalBridge Investment Management