Jacksonville investors shift focus to data centers and energy infrastructure as AI adoption accelerates (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Jacksonville companies spent 2025 racing to plug artificial intelligence into everything from health care workflows to financial services — and that momentum is reshaping how local investors think about the year ahead.
A new outlook from J.P. Morgan shows that as AI adoption accelerates, attention is shifting to the physical backbone needed to power it — assets like data centers, energy infrastructure and logistics networks. Analysts tell the Business Journal that these investments not only underpin the AI economy but also offer a buffer against inflation and market volatility, a combination increasingly relevant for Jacksonville’s growing base of tech-curious companies and high-net-worth investors.
Jacksonville-area businesses have spent the year moving to weave artificial intelligence into their operations. This local momentum mirrors a broader investment shift identified in the new J.P. Morgan report, which notes that as AI scales, investors are increasingly focused on the infrastructure required to support it.
“There’s a lot of optimism about Jacksonville’s potential as a hub for data centers and AI technology companies,” said Matthew Marcin, executive director and market team lead at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Jacksonville. “The regional momentum is strong.”
Many of J.P. Morgan’s local clients gained their initial exposure to AI through major technology companies — the hyperscalers — Marcin said. But as adoption spreads across industries, he noted, interest is broadening toward the assets that keep AI running.
It’s become a defining story of 2025: from hospitals to banks to universities, organizations across Northeast Florida are bringing AI into the fold. That growth is shaping how J.P. Morgan is positioning portfolios heading into the new year.
“Allocating to assets like data centers and energy grids can help support the AI revolution while also serving as a practical hedge against inflation,” Marcin said. “These investments are essential for building portfolios that can withstand market volatility and adapt to structural change.”
The bank’s 2026 outlook highlights how private market strategies can give investors more direct access to these kinds of infrastructure plays — exposure that can be harder to capture through public markets alone. J.P. Morgan identifies three forces it expects to shape the year ahead: the dominance of AI, which brings both innovation and the risk of overexuberance; global fragmentation, creating competing economic blocs and an increased focus on resilience; and lingering uncertainty around inflation, which it says demands a new mindset from investors.
“As companies prioritize resilience and security over efficiency,” Marcin advised, “Jacksonville’s strategic location and logistics infrastructure position the city to benefit from new patterns in trade and investment.”
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