Investors have spent the past two years obsessing over AI chips and data center landlords, but quietly, a different part of the energy system has begun to rerate: the grid. Companies that make the hardware and software needed to move, condition and store electricity have rallied strongly this year, yet a growing number of big funds think this is the start of a long investment cycle rather than the late stages of a bubble.

The core argument is simple: electricity demand is structurally rising, existing grids are structurally underbuilt, and the fixes  from transformers and inverters to batteries and control software can’t be deferred much longer.

China’s consumer spending and investment have slumped to levels unseen since the pandemic, exposing the deep risks facing the world’s second-largest economy even as it benefits from booming exports and the de-escalation of the Gulf conflict, confirming the two-speed divergence between a faltering domestic economy and a roaring export sector that has come to define China’s predicament.

Retail sales declined 0.6 percent in May from a year earlier, a worse-than-forecast drop marking their first fall since the reopening from Covid lockdowns in late 2022, while fixed-asset investment shrank a deeper-than-expected 4.1 percent over the first five months and home prices fell at a quicker pace.

India is gearing up to auction around 100 critical mineral blocks within the next four months as part of its strategy to secure domestic supplies of essential raw materials required for the green energy transition. These mineral blocks include resources like nickel, lithium, cobalt, platinum, and rare earths. The objective is to support India’s goal of becoming a significant hub for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, aiding its path to achieve a net-zero target.