As artificial intelligence has seemingly dominated the stock market, it has also been making its presence felt in the world of mergers and acquisitions.
That was apparent from our 2025 list of biggest deals in Arkansas, which includes several transactions involving AI-related companies.
But a conversation with Marshall McKissack, who leads the M&A practice at Stephens Inc. of Little Rock, also made clear that AI was going to continue to figure in dealmaking activity going into 2026.
“AI is either accentuating your business or it’s after your business,” McKissack said. “It’s certainly a question that everybody is asking as they think about their growth strategy and making acquisitions or they’re thinking about selling a business.”
“A lot of it’s been focused around infrastructure, to date, but I think you’ll start to see some of the second and third derivatives, how is it actually impacting the businesses that are using it or not using it. How does it affect growth rates, earnings, margins, recruiting — all those things I think you’ll start to see take place,” McKissack said.
As for the data center market itself, businesses involved in creating them — construction firms, electrical contractors — will also be affected and that will translate to the M&A environment.
Asked whether he feared artificial intelligence could replace him, McKissack chuckled. “Nothing is out of the question. I think we see dealmakers using artificial intelligence, both on the buy side and the sell side, to consume and understand vast arrays of disparate data and using that to their advantage on identifying opportunities, analyzing things quickly, digging in more rapidly into places that feel more strategic.
“So it’s definitely adding more focus already to the deal market.”
But McKissack noted an essential element of the world of buying and selling companies, one that AI hasn’t mastered: “We continue to believe that deals get done via relationships.”
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