Blackstone Is Buying Data Center Operator AirTrunk in a $16B Deal—Here’s Why

Private equity giant Blackstone (BX) said it is buying Australian data center operator AirTrunk in a deal valued at 24 billion Australian dollars ($16.12 billion), as demand grows for data centers to support cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

AirTrunk is the largest data center platform in the Asia Pacific region, with facilities across Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Deal Adds to Blackstone’s Billions in Data Center Holdings

Blackstone executives said the deal adds to the firm’s existing portfolio of $55 billion in data centers around the world, with another $70 billion worth of “prospective pipeline development.”

“AirTrunk is another vital step as Blackstone seeks to be the leading digital infrastructure investor in the world across the ecosystem, including data centers, power and related services,” Blackstone Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray said in a release.

The private equity giant said Tuesday that some $2 trillion is expected to be spent on data centers globally over the next five years, with $1 trillion of that in the U.S. Blackstone has made a number of investments in acquiring debt and equity of other companies in the data center space.

Blackstone shares were down about 3% at $138.14 in pre-market trading Wednesday.