Global ECM tops USD 1 trillion as AI-fueled megadeals reshape issuance

EmitenTrust.com NEW YORK and LONDON, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Global equity capital markets are on track for a historic year, according to the latest ECM Highlights 9M26 report by Dealogic, an ION service. Issuance has now passed USD 1tn and is already exceeding the full-year totals of 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022.

In total, ECM issuance reached USD 1,084.4bn across 5,566 deals in the first nine months of 2026, up 52.6 percent year-on-year. Total volumes for 2025 were USD 997.6bn. Third-quarter volumes of USD 342.8bn are well above 3Q25, but came from 1,774 deals compared to 2,171, as capital was concentrated in a far smaller number of very large transactions.

Technology dominated fundraising in the third quarter, with the continued expansion of AI infrastructure. SK Hynix's USD 26.5bn secondary listing in the US, a USD 23bn follow-on from Intel and a USD 10.2bn accelerated bookbuild from Alibaba were the largest deals of the quarter, each of them raising money to fund the build-out of AI infrastructure. Technology accounted for around half of the total deal flow in the third quarter, the highest share in any single quarter on record.

Global IPO volumes fell to USD 53.7bn in 3Q26 from USD 58.5bn in 3Q25. Smaller issuers appear to be crowded out by the megadeals, with SpaceX's record USD 86.2bn IPO in 2Q26 dominating the new listings market in the first nine months of 2026. Investor attention has since turned to the prospective Anthropic listing in 4Q this year. But with ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and the US midterms looming investor caution is building.

• Americas still set the pace: The Americas recorded USD 157.9bn from 498 deals in 3Q26 and USD 609bn for the year to date. The US alone accounted for almost 44 percent of global volumes in the quarter at USD 152bn. Most of that came from follow-ons and convertibles rather than IPOs. US ECM is firmly on track for a record year with 9M26 volumes of USD 586.7bn raised from 1,606 deals in 9M26, compared with USD 579.7bn from 2000 transactions for 9M21.
  
  
• APAC narrows the gap on AI plays: APAC issuance reached USD 149.8bn from 950 deals in 3Q26, with Hong Kong (China) at 16.6 percent of global volume and mainland China at 9.6 percent. Several of the region's largest deals came from AI and semiconductor companies, including the USD 9.8bn CXMT IPO, and Alibaba's USD 10.2bn raise. India contributed USD 26.2bn, representing a 7.6 percent global share, led by a USD 3.3bn accelerated bookbuild in Life Insurance Corp of India.
  
  
• EMEA falls further behind: EMEA issuance was USD 37.2bn from 335 deals in 3Q26, just over a tenth of global volume and the region's weakest quarter of the year, taking the nine-month total to USD 142.5bn. France led European exchanges at USD 3.6bn but contributed only around 1 percent of global issuance. In a year defined by artificial intelligence, the region's performance reflects the absence of a domestic AI industry on anything like the scale of the US or China.
  
  
• IPO market slows ahead of the US midterms: Global IPO volumes of USD 53.7bn in 3Q26 were down 8.1 percent year-on-year. Few issuers have moved to get deals away before the midterms, and the window is likely to stay shut until the result is clear. If markets can navigate this turbulent period, the dealmaking window may reopen in late November or early December, giving a clear path to a record-breaking year.

Samuel Kerr, Head of Global ECM and Mergermarket EMEA, says:

"Global equity issuance has already topped USD 1tn over the first nine months of the year, for only the second time in history, already surpassing the full-year totals of the past four years. However, rapidly rising debt yields are complicating the outlook for corporate earnings, which means the fourth quarter now hinges on AI. Even if Anthropic completes a USD 100bn IPO, the concentration of equity issuance into technology, rather than a broad-based market recovery like in 2021, means this year is likely to take silver in the race for best ECM year ever."

To download the full report, click here.

*All data accurate as of 30 September 2026.

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