Vantage Lands $6.4B Equity Infusion

More funding is needed for the support of AI applications in the data center sector. Vantage Data Centers has secured a $6.4 billion round of equity from key investors DigitalBridge and Silver Lake. The provider plans to leverage its sizeable land bank and pour about $30 billion into future developments across North America and EMEA markets.

This new funding is incremental to another recently announced €1.5 billion (about $1.6 billion) investment from AustralianSuper in Vantage’s EMEA operations, bringing the total to roughly $8 billion. These transactions are expected to close in the first quarter.

Vantage will use the funds to complement its expansion strategy. The firm will use its 25 sites across North America and EMEA to deliver roughly 3 GW of data center capacity. The provider will target hyperscale projects, including data centers purpose-built for AI and large-scale cloud deployments.

A new generation of data centers

In our recent in-depth look at the future of data centers, Vantage Senior Vice President Steve Conner pointed out that rack densities for AI applications can be five times higher than traditional cloud computing. This puts a strain on cooling requirements, leading to significantly higher development costs.

Vantage currently has 32 hyperscale campuses globally, including some under development. In the U.S., the provider is present in three primary markets—Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley and Phoenix—and it also recently completed its 86 MW campus in Quincy, Wash.

The AI revolution will continue to attract investors old and new to the data center sector, as providers and developers will need more and more cash to fund these expensive facilities. Despite the current inflation environment, debt markets also remain open to the industry.

A few other massive investments were announced recently, including Blackstone and Digital Realty’s $7 billion joint venture. In another deal, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure obtained $1.9 billion for its Phoenix campus, which marked the company’s first green loan.