HSBC CEO warns the AI boom won’t make every data center a good bet

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AI is a transformational technology worth investing in — but investors must be selective when investing in data centers, according to the head of one of the world's biggest banks.

Speaking to CNBC's Dan Murphy on Tuesday, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery called artificial intelligence "a major enabler to re-engineer and reimagine all our businesses, all our activities."

"It's going to put a lot of power back in the hands of our colleagues because of the level of productivity it gives them, so it's going to be transformational, and we're certainly very much on a journey to adopt it," he said, adding that AI would help to "re-engineer the bank."

But when it comes to investing in infrastructure underpinning the technology, he advised discernment over an all-in approach.

"One has to be selective," Elhedery said. "You have to look at the quality of the tenancy agreements. You have to look at the pricing of these contracts. Not all of them are of that level of virtuosity that you can support strongly. Some of them may be more challenging."

HSBC was ranked as the seventh-largest bank in the world and the biggest lender in Europe by S&P Global last year, with assets worth close to $3 trillion. The bank — headquartered in London — is both a financier and operator of data centers.

In its 2025 annual report, HSBC said it intends to become "the leading bank for fast-growing transition ecosystems," noting that its customer base spans areas including data centers and the AI sector.

Data center campuses house the servers that power AI and cloud computing, and have seen a multibillion-dollar boom in recent years.

Global spending on data centers could reach $7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey, with Big Tech increasingly tapping private credit and taking on debt to fund the development of the facilities.