Global AI, Energy, and ESG Deals Reshape Corporate Strategies

Diginex doubles down on ESG operating infrastructure

Diginex has appointed Lubomila Jordanova, former CEO and founder of Plan A, as its new Chief Executive Officer, reinforcing a strategy built around a unified sustainability operating platform. The company completed its acquisition of Plan A earlier, integrating AI‑driven carbon accounting and ESG reporting into a continuous system that links emissions measurement, regulatory compliance and decarbonization planning.

Rather than treating ESG as a downstream reporting exercise, Diginex says it has spent the past year building an operating layer designed to withstand regulatory scrutiny and enterprise scale. It describes most legacy ESG efforts as “operationally detached”, with data reconciled after business decisions are made, and contrasts this with an architecture where procurement, supply chain and capital planning draw on the same audited data regulators and investors review.

The firm has also extended its model geographically via a joint venture framework in Brazil with BGlobal and the State of Mato Grosso. That collaboration envisions digital infrastructure capable of producing standardized, auditable sustainability data aligned with international requirements, including concepts such as a “Digital Green Passport” to support export credibility in sectors like beef, agriculture and land use.

Diginex positions these moves as a deliberate sequence: first consolidating its internal architecture through the Plan A acquisition, then extending into complex real‑economy environments such as Mato Grosso. The company argues that building cohesion before scale reduces execution risk as Scope 3 emissions and supply‑chain data become central to trade, finance and compliance.

Battery and materials funding targets AI and electrification

Redwood Materials has expanded its Series E financing round to $425 million, with new investment from Google and additional capital from existing backers including NVentures, Capricorn and Goldman Sachs. The round lifts Redwood’s total capital raised to $4.9 billion and values the company at more than $6 billion, according to a source cited in the report.

Founded in 2017 by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, Redwood initially focused on recycling scrap from battery production and consumer electronics to recover materials such as nickel and lithium. It has since added cathode production and, in 2025, launched “Redwood Energy”, which repurposes EV batteries that are not yet ready for full recycling into micro‑grids capable of supplying power to AI data centers and industrial sites.

Redwood says it now recovers more than 70% of all used or discarded battery packs in North America, and reported more than 1 GWh of energy‑storage inventory with expectations to receive another 4 GWh over coming months. The company plans to deploy 20 GWh of grid‑scale storage by 2028, citing surging electricity demand from AI, data centers, manufacturing and electrification as making storage “essential infrastructure”.

AI infrastructure pushes demand for robot and data‑center power

The industrial robot battery market is projected to grow from $2.58 billion in 2025 to $4.67 billion by 2030, a 12.5% CAGR, according to a ResearchAndMarkets report. Growth is attributed to rising automation, e‑commerce expansion, collaborative robots and advances in lithium‑ion technology. The report notes that battery suppliers such as Electrovaya and Samsung SDI are focusing on fast‑charging, high‑energy‑density systems designed for continuous robotic operations.

Separately, EdgeMode has expanded its joint venture with Blackberry AIF (BAIF), adding three additional large‑scale AI data‑center development projects totaling about 2 GW of planned capacity. The projects, in Spain and Panama, are described as power‑secured and grid‑independent, with a strategy that integrates on‑site and grid‑connected energy to bring AI compute online rapidly where traditional grid capacity is constrained.

Eaton has also announced a collaboration with Flexnode in the U.S. to deliver modular, prefabricated AI data‑center infrastructure. Its systems are designed to support high‑density racks from 3.5 MW to 35 MW data halls, with modular power and IT infrastructure that can reduce deployment schedules by around 35%, according to the company.

Semiconductor and digital infrastructure markets forecast robust growth

A series of global market reports from ResearchAndMarkets highlight how AI, EVs and digitalization are driving upstream demand. The computer microchip market is expected to grow from $26.43 billion in 2025 to $29.1 billion in 2026 and to reach $42.76 billion by 2030, a 10.1% CAGR between 2025 and 2026 and continued strong growth thereafter. AI applications, 5G and IoT expansion, autonomous vehicles and high‑performance computing are identified as key demand drivers.

The semiconductor plating systems market is forecast to rise from $5.86 billion in 2025 to $7.83 billion by 2030, with adoption of 3D packaging, automotive electronics and high‑precision deposition techniques cited as trends. A separate report projects the prismatic cell assembly automation market to grow from $2.05 billion in 2024 to $3.77 billion in 2029, helped by EV battery demand and automated giga‑factory build‑outs.

Beyond semiconductors, the gaming peripherals market is expected to expand from $5.29 billion in 2025 to $9.10 billion by 2033, a 7.02% CAGR, as e‑sports, streaming and wireless customization features fuel demand. The smart highway construction market is projected to double from $35.09 billion in 2025 to $72.79 billion by 2030, driven by IoT‑enabled pavements, adaptive traffic systems and vehicle‑to‑infrastructure communication.