Billions Flow Across Data Center Deals Despite Headwinds

For all of the controversy dogging data centers these days — prompting municipalities to impose moratoriums on their development — there sure is a lot of money flowing around the sector.

In recent days, KKR launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a developer and operator for the property type, Bisnow reported. The company, which counts Nvidia and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth funds among its partners, kicked off with more than $10 billion in capital commitments.

Former Amazon Web Services Chief Executive Officer Adam Selipsky is leading the business, while Nvidia will support chip deployment and Texas-based Vistra will serve as the preferred power provider.

The goal of the company is to be a one-stop shop for hyperscalers’ data centers, power needs and connectivity. The firm is open to additional institutional investment, too.

Meanwhile, Japan-based NTT’s data center arm is reportedly on the hunt for at least $1 billion to fund projects in the United States, according to Bloomberg. Citigroup is helping NTT Global Data Centers raise the money through stake sales in a development company.

A formal sales process is expected to begin in the coming weeks as NTT sends marketing materials to prospective investors, including pensions and infrastructure funds.

NTT is already the world’s third-largest data center provider, excluding China. Last year, the company announced the land acquisition of sites across the globe, including in Oregon, Arizona and even Milan, Italy. The firm has nearly three dozen projects in the works, aimed at doubling capacity in as little as two years.

NTT Global Data Centers and Citigroup declined to comment to the publication.

Data centers remain controversial because they are massive power users and are often blamed for driving up electricity bills. Opponents also accuse the sector of consuming large amounts of water and doing environmental harm.

Towns, however, are trying to attract data centers because of the property taxes they pay. But there are also plenty of municipalities looking to block their arrival through moratoriums; New York legislators just passed a one-year moratorium on data center development.

— Holden Walter-Warner