美国PE调查：人工智能是未来，流动性是问题（英）2026

US PE Survey: AI Is theFuture, Liquidity Isthe Problem Institutional Research Group Steven Buibish, CFADirector, US Private Equitysteven.buibish@pitchbook.com Jinny ChoiSenior Research Analyst,Private Equity What PitchBook’s latest US private equity survey revealsabout a market caught between its future and its past Garrett HindsSenior Research Analyst,Private Equitygarrett.hinds@pitchbook.com PitchBook is a Morningstar company providing the most comprehensive, mostaccurate, and hard-to-find data for professionals doing business in the private markets. Kyle WaltersResearch Analyst, Private Equitykyle.walters@pitchbook.com Executive summary: Rotating around AI, waitingon liquidity Harrison WaldockSenior Data Analyst pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.com Ask private equity (PE) practitioners what is shaping their decisions today, andartificial intelligence (AI) will be mentioned in the same breath as interest rates andgeopolitics. To gain deeper insight into current market sentiment, we conducted a USPE survey between May 15 and 29. Participants included a broad range of industry Published on June 12, 2026 Contents Executive summary: Rotating around AI,waiting on liquidity1AI moves into the spotlight while tariffsfade into the background2AI adoption hinges on execution, not beliefs4The liquidity overhang is the counterweightto AI5Continuation vehicles: Where sentimentmeets the data8What the survey results add up to10References10 But AI is only half the picture. The same practitioners repositioning toward the futureare sitting on a backlog of aging assets that they cannot move. Exiting portfoliocompanies was the most-cited priority for the next six months, yet more respondents The sentiment is that this is now a structural feature of PE, as survey respondentsexpect the median holding period for new investments to settle at a minimum of fiveyears. The industry is leaning into AI with one hand and waiting on liquidity with theother. This tension is driving GPs to go to new lengths to provide liquidity to their LPs AI moves into the spotlight while tariffs fade into When we asked the survey respondents to rank the macroeconomic factors shapingtheir investment decisions, AI disruption and opportunity collected more first-placerankings than any other factor, interest rates and geopolitics included, and it sat justbehind those two on top-three frequency. Tariffs, by contrast, sat at the bottom, ranked The impacts of AI are also featuring in capital allocation decisions. Software was citedby the most survey respondents as the sector they had pulled back from in the past 12months, while B2B/business services and energy were the sectors that respondentshad leaned into. The sector that defined the past decade of sponsor returns is nowthe one that practitioners are most actively trimming from their portfolios, as AI iscompressing the moats that software businesses were bought for, as discussed in our AI has also arrived at the negotiating table. When asked to name the primary source ofthe gap between what buyers will pay and what sellers will accept, respondents mostoften cited differing assumptions about revenue growth. But disagreement over AI-disruption risk now registers as a distinct source of the valuation gap—a category that AI adoption hinges on execution, not beliefs When asked to name the greatest impediment to accelerating AI adoption acrosstheir portfolios, respondents pointed to data readiness most often, followed closely bycost justification, management bandwidth, and talent. This was reinforced by a recent The impediments cluster into two groups: infrastructure that is not ready and peoplewho are already stretched thin, with cost as an undercurrent across both. Neither is averdict on the technology, but rather on the hard, unglamorous work of deploying AI When we think about PE value creation, we focus on three elements: operatingimprovement, multiple expansion, and leverage. Strip financing out of the equationand PE value creation is reduced to just operating improvement (revenue growth andmargin expansion) and multiple expansion. With multiple expansion no longer the AI is fundamentally a bet on that engine. In Q2, we have seen multiple tie-ups betweenGPs and frontier AI labs looking to accelerate the deployment of AI into portfoliocompanies. Ultimately, whether these firms can turn AI into measurable bottom-line Taken together, these responses point one way: AI is now a driving factor in investmentcommittees, in boardrooms, and at the negotiating table. The liquidity overhang is the counterweight to AI If AI is where the industry is looking, liquidity is what it is waiting on. Among surveyrespondents, exiting portfolio companies was the most-cited priority for the nextsix months, named more often than deploying into new deals, pursuing add-ons, or What is in question is the ease of selling. More respondents expect exit conditionsto weaken over the coming six months than impr