Morgan Stanley

$2.3B in H1 2026 capital-markets fees, up from $1.4B a year earlier, put Morgan Stanley at the center of AI infrastructure financing coverage.

Who they are

Morgan Stanley appears in this coverage as a Wall Street bank connecting technology companies and investors to financing, public listings and retail-trading products. Its recurring roles span debt underwriting for Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition and xAI, prospective IPO work for OpenAI and Cerebras Systems, and the E*Trade crypto rollout.

The recent arc

Coverage accelerated through late 2025 and the first half of 2026, peaking in 2026Q2 as the bank became a prominent intermediary in the AI capital cycle. Reuters reported its forecast that global AI-related debt issuance could reach roughly $570B in 2026; The Information reported its push for data-center developers to use leveraged loans; and the Financial Times reported $2.3B in H1 debt and equity capital-markets fees, attributed to AI infrastructure financing.

The tension

The central tension is between a rapidly expanding appetite for AI and data-center capital and the search for financing structures capable of supporting it. Morgan Stanley is advocating leveraged loans over bonds for developers while competing for business alongside Goldman Sachs on a reported OpenAI IPO and facing retail crypto rivals Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab through E*Trade’s lower-fee pilot.

Why it matters

If AI infrastructure spending continues to require alternative funding, Morgan Stanley’s role could extend beyond individual technology deals into shaping how data-center buildouts are financed. Its fee growth and loan-market estimates indicate that financing mechanics are becoming part of the AI story, though the durability of that position depends on issuance demand, borrower appetite and whether proposed IPO and crypto initiatives proceed as reported.

Related: Goldman Sachs · IPO · Elon Musk · Sources: OpenAI is preparing to file confidentially for an IPO as earl