Blackstone Launching Public Company for Data Center Push

Blackstone is already heavily involved in data centers, but the alternative investment giant is plotting another trick up its sleeve.

The firm is planning to launch a publicly traded acquisition company focused on the high-profile sector, Bloomberg reported. The company is soliciting sovereign wealth funds and other institutions for initial investments, seeking to raise tens of billions of dollars.

It would invest in data centers that are already up and running and leased, eschewing development projects and raw land deals. It would not, however, buy data centers owned by other funds within the Blackstone umbrella, a property shuffle not uncommon between its various entities.

The entity would need regulatory approval to trade, but its structure has yet to be finalized. The firm is still hoping to launch the company as soon as this year and turn it into a bellwether for the data center sector, helping to accelerate deals and discern values for properties.

Blackstone declined to comment on its plans to the publication.

Stephen Schwarzman’s firm is all over the map in terms of data center deals, literally. Last year, the private equity giant teamed up with Humain, Saudi Arabia’s state-backed artificial intelligence company, on a $3 billion push to build data centers across the Gulf nation. The project will be developed through AirTrunk, the Asia-Pacific operator Blackstone and Canada’s pension fund took private for $16 billion in 2024.

Blackstone also acquired QTS Realty Trust for $10 billion in 2021 and has since doubled its valuation, counting more than 75 properties online or under development as of August. That month, the data center arm secured $1.65 billion in financing through bond sales to fund developments across the country.

But data centers may not be in vogue forever. In fact, capacity under construction for data centers declined last year for the first time since 2020, dropping to 5.99 gigawatts at the end of 2025 from 6.35 gigawatts a year earlier, according to CBRE.

The primary causes for the slowdown include significant issues with power and energy supply due to rising demand and increased local opposition leading to permitting and zoning delays.

— Holden Walter-Warner