Aligned Data Centers Raises $12B
The funding round aims to meet the surging AI and cloud demand.
Fundraising and investment in data centers continue rapidly, with Aligned Data Centers among the latest to complete a $12 billion funding round.
The company brought in more than $5 billion of primary equity and over $7 billion of debt commitments to fund its accelerated platform expansion and ongoing innovation, such as 5+GW of planned future capacity to be installed across the Americas.
Macquarie Asset Management manages the fund alongside multiple large global investors with significant experience in digital infrastructure.
Macquarie also pledged $5 billion to Applied Digital’s high-performance computing data centers, with an initial $900 million allocated to its Ellendale facility in North Dakota.
Similarly, DigitalBridge has expanded its global footprint by acquiring Yondr Group, a data center development company, to better serve hyperscale clients.
KKR and Energy Capital Partners have also announced a $50 billion investment in data center and power generation projects over the next four years, underscoring the sector’s critical role in supporting AI and advanced computing needs.
“These investments reflect strong confidence in the data center market, focusing on developing new facilities and acquiring existing infrastructure to meet the rapidly evolving demands of the digital economy,” Howard Berry, principal, national data center solutions, Avison Young, told Commercial Property Executive.
Surge coming in 2025
Moody’s Ratings forecasted global data center capacity to surge again in 2025.
Most of the new capacity coming online is preleased to Microsoft, Google, AWS, Meta and Oracle, which will limit the risk of introducing a significant surplus of unoccupied capacity into the market.
READ ALSO: Are Data Centers Immune to CRE Market Forces?
Additionally, new colocation data center capacity is being developed for small to medium-sized tenants who pay higher lease rates on a per kilowatt per month basis. Vacancy rates may briefly uptick in some markets until this newly available colocation capacity is fully leased. However, given supply constraints in most markets, they will remain low.
Major private equity investors have eagerly snapped up medium-size and large data center REITs and developers, according to Moody’s. Even larger mega partnerships have formed in recent months, such as the $100 billion Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership involving Blackrock Inc. (Aa3 negative), Microsoft and MGX, as well as KKR and Energy Capital Partners’ $50 billion partnership to invest in data centers and power generation for the foreseeable future.
JLL, too, reports a surge in data center activity.
Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential, told CPE that the data center industry continues to attract significant investment as businesses grapple with the challenges of scaling digital infrastructure to meet unprecedented demand.
Flexential has a partnership with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and GI Partners to accelerate its growth.
“This influx of capital reflects not just confidence in the sector, but it also recognizes the critical role that data centers play in powering AI, cloud adoption and enterprise digital transformation,” Downie said. “Investors are increasingly focused on funding projects emphasizing scale and sustainability.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.