At SuperReturn, EQT's Carolina Brochado, Peter Beske Nielsen, Bert Janssens, Hari Gopalakrishnan and Christian Sinding discussed how AI is reshaping value creation across the entire EQT platform, from early-stage venture investments to growth, buyouts and longer-hold strategies.

The central theme was clear: AI is not just a technology trend or an investment category. It is becoming a foundational value creation lever across every sector and every stage of company building.

Carolina Brochado, Head of EQT Ventures and Head of EQT Growth US, highlighted how AI is increasingly touching every corner of the technology landscape.

"What we see now is that AI is really touching every single sub-sector."

That transformation is happening in two ways. First, a new generation of AI-native companies is emerging at unprecedented speed. Carolina pointed to companies such as Lovable, Harvey and Parloa as examples of businesses growing at fast speed compared to previous technology cycles.

"I've never seen so many businesses go from 0 to 10 in less than a year."

Second, existing companies are being transformed through AI adoption. Across the portfolio, businesses are using AI to automate workflows, improve productivity, expand margins and accelerate growth.

Beyond software, EQT is increasingly focused on what Carolina described as "physical AI", AI moving into the real world through robotics and infrastructure. Companies such as 1X demonstrate how AI is evolving from digital applications into physical intelligence, enabling robots to perceive, learn and operate in the real world.

The broader message from the session was that value creation increasingly depends on an organisation's ability to identify, adopt and operationalise AI. For EQT, that means combining investments in promising AI companies with a focus on helping portfolio companies capture the opportunities created by the technology.

The opportunity extends across venture, growth, buyouts and longer-hold strategies alike. AI is no longer a sector. It is becoming a layer across the entire economy.