Global equity markets are heading towards a period of heavier share issuance as companies fund rising investment needs linked to artificial intelligence, according to projections from JPMorgan Chase.
The bank estimates net equity issuance could climb to around $200 billion in 2026 before rising by more than 500% year on year in 2027 to roughly $1.2 trillion. The figure includes initial public offerings, secondary share sales and other equity raises after buybacks are taken into account.
If realised, this would represent the most concentrated two-year stretch of net stock issuance since the late 1990s, marking a shift away from a long period in which corporate buybacks reduced the overall supply of listed shares.
Over the past two decades, share repurchases have totalled about $12 trillion, steadily tightening equity supply across major US indices. That pattern now appears to be reversing as capital requirements increase across technology and infrastructure-heavy sectors.
A key driver of the expected increase is the pipeline of large-scale funding events in the technology sector. This includes the anticipated initial public offering of SpaceX, alongside expected listings or capital raises involving firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
At the same time, established technology groups including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Oracle are expected to raise additional capital through secondary offerings. These moves are linked to rising expenditure on artificial intelligence development, data infrastructure and computing capacity.
The projections point to a market environment where capital formation becomes more active after years dominated by buybacks, with technology investment acting as the central force shaping issuance activity.
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