As Digital and AI become embedded across Infratech, its value will depend on whether it can solve specific infrastructure challenges. For businesses developing these technologies, the strongest use cases will be those that translate advances in AI into practical improvements in how infrastructure is planned, delivered and operated.
A connective technology, not a niche
AI and data capabilities cut across construction, supply chain and decarbonisation businesses, where many of the underlying challenges are similar: understanding vast amounts of operational data, making faster decisions, and automating previously manual processes.
A construction planning platform, a supply chain visibility tool, and a smart grid optimisation system may appear unrelated, but they can be built on comparable AI foundations, adapted to different operational contexts. This is why Digital and AI capability is coming to define competitiveness across the whole Infratech landscape, rather than sitting within a single niche.
AI adoption across UK businesses has increased significantly, rising from around 12% in late 2023 to 35% in 2026. Construction adoption currently stands at 13%, highlighting substantial scope for infrastructure-focused businesses to translate that wider momentum into practical tools for the sector.[1] The opportunity lies in solutions that can integrate with established workflows and demonstrate clear operational value.
Creating the conditions for adoption
The policy environment is also beginning to support wider adoption. Earlier this year, the Department for Transport’s Smarter Transport Systems programme announced support for businesses developing AI applications for UK transport infrastructure,[2] while the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero recently opened a consultation on the role AI could play in improving prediction, optimisation and coordination across the UK’s clean energy system.[3]
For Infratech businesses, the opportunity will ultimately depend on turning this momentum into practical applications. The strongest propositions will be those that use AI to solve genuine operational problems, whether by improving decisions, increasing productivity, reducing risk or enabling infrastructure assets to perform more effectively.
In that sense, the opportunity is not simply to build an AI business for infrastructure, but to embed AI within the tools and technologies that infrastructure has come to rely on.
Investing across the Infratech landscape
At Murphy Capital, Digital and AI runs across our investment thesis, not as a standalone vertical, but as a capability that can strengthen each of our three strategic focus areas: Future of Construction, Supply Chain and Greentech. We look for businesses using technology and data to solve infrastructure challenges on the ground, from improving productivity and asset management to strengthening safety, resilience and sustainability.
The applications can look very different. In Future of Construction, they include AI-driven planning, automation and digital modelling. Across Supply Chain, data can improve procurement, asset management and workforce planning, while in Greentech it can support areas such as intelligent energy systems and carbon management.
The strongest applications share a clear commercial case, using AI to improve how infrastructure is planned, delivered, monitored or operated.
[1]Office for National Statistics, 2026. “Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026” (Accessed: September 2026).
[2]Connected Places Catapult, 2026. “AI in Transport: 23 innovators selected to develop proposals”. (Accessed: September 2026).
[3] Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 2026. “Vision for an AI-enabled clean energy system”. (Accessed: September 2026).
Putting AI to work in infrastructure
For Digital and AI businesses, developing the technology is only part of the challenge. Tools also need to work with real infrastructure data, fit the way projects and assets are actually managed, and produce outputs that teams can use to make better decisions.
This is where Murphy Capital’s connection to an infrastructure operator can make a difference. Portfolio companies can draw on Murphy’s engineering, construction and delivery expertise, alongside opportunities to test and refine solutions within live operational environments. Access to real-world data and frontline feedback can help businesses understand how their technology performs outside a controlled environment and where it needs to adapt.
Murphy’s £8.2bn order book provides considerable breadth for that learning, spanning different projects, sectors and operational environments. For an AI-enabled business, that process can strengthen more than the technology itself: it can provide evidence that a solution works in practice, sharpen product-market fit and build the credibility needed to support wider adoption.
Further insight into the Digital and AI technologies, investment activity, and innovation trends shaping infrastructure delivery is explored in Murphy Capital’s newly published report UK Infratech: From Innovation to Scale.