What's happening
The AI infrastructure boom is turning into an insurance story: massive data center projects like the $14 billion El Paso build and Meta's Texas AI facility are pulling in brokers, reinsurers and ILS capital to cover exposure that didn't exist at this scale before. On the deal side, Mapfre took a large stake in digital insurer Tuio, but the broader tone around M&A is turning cautious, with Gallagher noting brokerage acquisition multiples are coming down and Arch saying it prefers buybacks to pricey deals. Separately, employers are starting to weigh brokers' AI capabilities when deciding who to hire.
Why it matters
Data centers are becoming a defined new risk category, and how insurers price and structure capacity for them now will shape a market still figuring out the exposure. On the deal front, cooling multiples and a buyback preference suggest consolidation is shifting from a land grab to a more disciplined, valuation-conscious phase worth tracking into the second half of the year.