Blackstone to Become World's Largest AI Infrastructure Investor
Source: Data Center Dynamics
CEO Stephen Schwarzman claimed that "the consequences of AI are as profound as what occurred in 1880 when Thomas Edison patented the electric light bulb."
He added: "Our portfolio today consists of $55bn of data centers, including facilities under construction, along with over $70bn in prospective pipeline development. Our largest data center portfolio company, QTS, has grown lease capacity seven times since we took it private in 2021 [for $10bn]."
"The need to provide power for these data centers is a major contributor to an expected 40 percent increase in electricity demand in the United States over the next decade compared to minimal growth in the last decade."
Last year, Blackstone said it would invest another $8bn in building AI data centers. Blackstone has myriad data center investments, including in Vnet, Lumina CloudInfra, Copeland, Park Place Technologies, and Winthrop Technologies, alongside joint ventures with COPT, Digital Realty, and others.
"We're also providing equity and debt capital to other AI-related companies," Schwarzman said. "For example, in the second quarter, we committed to provide AI-focused cloud service provider, CoreWeave, with $4.5bn of a $7.5bn financing package, the largest debt financing in our history, and we're now focusing on addressing the sector's power needs in many differentiated ways.
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