Brookfield Asset Management expects its infrastructure investment strategy to propel operations into next year as investors see such assets providing some immunity to market volatility and a shield to inflation.

Capital has poured into the New York firm's latest main infrastructure fund, with $26 billion collected for the vehicle so far, including $3.4 billion during this year's third quarter and $13 billion received after the end of September.

"This is going to be the largest fund in the history of Brookfield," Chief Executive Connor Teskey said Friday during a call with securities analysts to discuss the firm's third-quarter results. He added that the fund is expected to surpass a $30 billion goal by early next year.

Brookfield raised roughly $25 billion during the just-ended quarter across all its strategies and amassed $123 billion in fresh capital this year through September. The firm with roots in Canada continues to benefit from investors' appetite for infrastructure assets.

"Economic uncertainty, volatile public markets and the prospect of higher inflation" are driving investors to the strategy, said Rene Lubianski, a managing partner in the firm's infrastructure group who spoke on the call.

"[Infrastructure] provides essential services with durable demand, often supported by long-term contracts or regulated frameworks" that typically include price adjustments based on inflation, Lubianski said of such assets. "Together, these characteristics provide downside protection, predictable cash flow, consistent growth through market cycles and meaningful diversification."

The rising demand for physical assets to support the expansion of digital technologies, the repatriation of manufacturing and the shift to clean energy are all drawing investors to infrastructure strategies, Brookfield executives said during the call, referring to the three trends as digitalization, deglobalization and decarbonization.

Earlier this week, Brookfield said it partnered with power company Drax in the U.K. to build an artificial intelligence computing facility in North England, an investment that could exceed GBP20 billion, equivalent to $26.9 billion. Other recent investments in the sector include the firm's pledge in July to provide as much as $9 billion in financing to expand AI-computing power at data centers in South Korea. Major AI chip maker Nvidia is investing $1 billion in Korean data-center operator Naver.

"Together with the opportunities we're advancing in the United States, Canada and Europe, these projects demonstrate the scale, geographic breadth and quality of the pipeline behind the strategy," Lubianski said.

During the third quarter, Brookfield raised $12.2 billion for credit strategies, $2.1 billion for private-equity funds, $2.3 billion for energy-focused vehicles and $900 million for real-estate investment pools. The firm, whose ultimate parent is Toronto-based Brookfield Corp., ended September with assets of roughly $1.3 trillion.

Regarding potential fallout on the AI industry from the U.S. midterm elections, Teskey said it's too early to assess all the ramifications, noting only that a Democratic majority in Congress could lead to changes in project permitting processes and another extension of renewable energy tax credits, which are set to expire next year.

"We're not banking on that in any way, but should either of those things take place, it would be a very strong positive for our business," he said.

Brookfield notched a 15% gain in distributable earnings, a measure of cash that can be returned to shareholders, which rose to $763 million, or 47 cents a share, from $661 million, or 41 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $735 million, or about 45 cents a share.

Fee-related earnings also climbed 15% to $864 million for the just-ended quarter compared with the year-earlier period, topping the almost $835 million analysts anticipated, according to FactSet.

Revenue jumped 72% to $2.15 billion.

Capital inflows and deployment helped drive a more than threefold increase in net income, which rose to $2.65 billion, or $1.64 cents a share, for the third quarter.

Brookfield shares were little changed in early afternoon trading Friday following release of the results.