"The Middle East is Positioning Itself As A Switzerland Of AI Infrastructure" Featuring Obinna Isiadinso, IFC

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Obinna Isiadinso, Global Sector Lead for Data Center Investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Obinna leads investment teams on valuation and execution considerations, reviews private equity and credit transaction structures, and participates in transaction negotiations in the Data Center and Cloud sectors in emerging markets globally. He is also the author of the Global Data Center Hub on Substack (linked here). His career spans private equity, infrastructure, and real assets. We were thrilled to host Obinna and learn from him on one of today’s most dynamic topics.
 
In our discussion, Obinna outlines the IFC’s role as the private financing arm of the World Bank, shares his background in private equity and digital infrastructure, and describes his current global portfolio focus. He explains the IFC’s structure and mission to achieve commercial returns while ensuring developmental impact, its ~$100 billion balance sheet, and dual role as a lender and equity investor. We cover the IFC’s role in digital infrastructure and data centers, why data centers matter for emerging market development, the IFC’s investment approach and capital structure, and Obinna’s Substack, which tracks and summarizes global data center activity. We discuss global market sizing (U.S. ~30 GW; Northern Virginia 3–4 GW; Europe FLAP-D ~1-1.5 GW each; South America ~1 GW; Africa ~500 MW, ~250 MW in South Africa; India ~1.2-1.3 GW; China ~3-4 GW; Malaysia ~250 MW with ~1 GW pipeline in 3-5 years), the growth outlook with hyperscalers planning to add 30-50 GW in 3-5 years and roughly ~$400 billion capex this year, cost benchmarks ($10-12 million/MW plus chips), build times, EBITDA economics, current valuation multiples, the evolving fuel mix, and the IFC’s sustainability criteria. Obinna summarizes the IFC’s market-by-market approach to energy sourcing, rising power demand in emerging markets (and potential competition for scarce power), the IFC’s initiatives to expand generation and grid capacity in Africa, and the Middle East’s bid to be a ‘Switzerland of AI Infrastructure.’ We ended by asking Obinna for key trends he’s watching including diversification of AI models, continuous training workloads, and growing private credit participation. It was a fascinating conversation and we can’t thank Obinna enough for joining and sharing his insights. We look forward to staying in touch.
 
Mike Bradley noted that this will be a pivotal week for markets, with the FOMC rate decision on Wednesday, a slew of Q3 reports from Big AI/Tech and Energy/Electricity companies throughout this week, and an OPEC+ meeting being held over the weekend. In the bond market, the 10-year bond yield continues to be stuck in the 4% range. The Fed is expected to cut interest rates by 25bps both this week and again in December. On the oil market front, WTI price has slipped back to ~$60/bbl as oil traders seem fixated again on the 2026 oil supply surplus rather than Russian oil sanctions. OPEC+ is expected to raise November oil production by another 137kbpd (similar to October) at this weekend’s OPEC+ meeting. At Veriten, we still envision oil markets in 2026 being a “tale of two markets” with 1H26 being challenged and 2H26 being pretty constructive. In global market news, President Javier Milei’s party scored a major win in Argentina’s legislative elections, sending bond yields lower, the peso modestly higher, and a 20%+ surge in the Argentina stock market. On the broader equity market front, the S&P 500 continues to reach new highs with this week’s move mostly due to optimism of a China-U.S. trade deal. A handful of Big AI/Tech names will be reporting this week (AAPL, AMZN, GOOG, META & MSFT) which could increase broader marke