Investing.com - The private sector and possibly a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund are likely to assume a greater importance in funding infrastructure projects in the country, according to analysts at Citi.
In a note to clients, the analysts led by Andrew Hollenhorst flagged that historically governments were "uniquely able" to shoulder the risks and sometimes multi-generational timetables of large-scale infrastructure initiatives.
However, already-large U.S. budget deficits, strained by spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare as well as interest expenses, have limited the capacity for the government to provide funding, Hollenhorst said.
Rapid changes in technology have also contributed to evolving infrastructure needs that in many cases can be better met by the private sector, "either alone or in partnership with government", Hollenhorst added.
Against this backdrop, direct government funding of infrastructure projects in the U.S. has been dropping for much of the past 50 years, according to Hollenhorst.
"Simply maintaining the quality of existing infrastructure has been a challenge in the U.S. The American Society of Civil Engineers grade for U.S. infrastructure has improved, but only from a D+ in 2017 to a C in 2025 -- barely a passing grade," Hollenhorst said.
As a result, the analysts said they see public-private partnerships, which spread out the risk between both the public and private sectors, as a possible model for funding modern infrastructure projects. They noted that this model has "worked well" in some cases, such as in private toll roads, but they flagged that this method has proved to be "difficult to scale up".
A new sovereign wealth fund could use private sector funds to leverage existing U.S. government assets and bolster domestic infrastructure investment, they said. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February ordering the creation of such a fund, which would echo similar moves in the Middle East and Asia that have allowed these officials to make direct investments with government money.
As a presidential candidate, Trump said this type of vehicle would help fund "great national endeavors", including infrastructure projects like airports or highways.
Still, the creation of a sovereign wealth fund would require approval from Congress. These funds also typically rely on a budget surplus, something the U.S. government does not currently have at its disposal.
The private sector, as a result, may need to step in to offer investment in cutting-edge infrastructure -- such as data centers -- that help underpin new technologies, Hollenhorst said.
"New technologies will require new kinds of infrastructure that may be more efficiently and more rapidly funded by the private sector," Hollenhorst argued. "Constrained government spending and the need to quickly build new kinds of infrastructure mean the private sector is likely to continue playing an expanding role in funding infrastructure."
Such investment from alternative sources is tipped by Citi to benefit a number of industry, including construction materials, machinery, and transportation. Some of the companies most primed to take advantage of these changes are CRH (NYSE:CRH), Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC), CSX (NASDAQ:CSX), Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC), Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP), Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), United Rentals (NYSE:URI), and Herc Holdings (NYSE:HRI).