Canadian Engineering Firms Counter AI Revenue Fears
WSP Global, AtkinsRealis, and Stantec argue that AI will increase industry capacity to meet urgent infrastructure and power needs despite investor concerns over billable hours.
Canada's largest publicly traded engineering firms—WSP Global Inc., AtkinsRealis Group Inc., and Stantec Inc.—are pushing back against investor fears that artificial intelligence will disrupt their business models. Investors have worried that AI-driven productivity will reduce billable hours and compress revenues, a sentiment that contributed to share price declines of up to 34% over the past year.
Executives from the three firms argue that AI will instead expand industry capacity to meet desperate needs for power and infrastructure. They are positioning their companies to benefit from the AI-driven data center buildout and a U.S. electric infrastructure supercycle. AtkinsRealis is specifically targeting the U.S. nuclear market with its Enhanced Candu 6 reactor to address rising energy demands.
Stantec is focusing on using AI as a productivity tool to support infrastructure and nature-based solutions to help communities accept new projects. Incoming Stantec CEO Susan Reisbord stated that she does not see total project prices decreasing, noting that the physical nature of the work—such as roads and bridges—cannot be pulled back once completed.
