Data Center Builders Are Racing to Offload Stakes Worth Billions

Data-center builders and operators across the U.S. are working with bankers to sell majority equity stakes worth tens of billions of dollars in their companies this summer, according to people familiar with the efforts.

Bankers are working to sell stakes in firms including Netrality Data Centers, DataBank, Edged, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure and others with properties located from Phoenix to Atlanta. They are pitching private-equity firms on a hot asset class benefiting from unrelenting demand for computing power.

Sales of data-center operators are on the rise as owners of these firms seek exits and investor interest in owning the physical infrastructure behind advanced artificial intelligence grows. A massive backlog of demand for server capacity pushed companies to pursue novel strategies to secure more of it, from renting chips from direct competitors to launching data centers into orbit.

Shortages of everything from electricians and plumbers to gas turbines and memory chips have driven the cost of building new data centers ever higher. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang recently estimated the cost of building a gigawatt of new computing power using his company’s architecture could soon reach $80 billion to $100 billion. Some operators have been forced to seek deeper-pocketed backers to fund their next phase of expansion, according to several people working on the deals.

Among the largest potential deals in the works is the sale of a majority stake in Dallas-based DataBank, which could reach as much as $25 billion, according to people with knowledge of the process. DataBank is owned by a consortium led by DigitalBridge that also includes Swiss Life, EDF Invest and Australian pension fund AustralianSuper.

EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, a Denver-based data-center developer and operator of data centers for large cloud providers, asked potential buyers to submit offers last week, according to a person with direct knowledge. EdgeCore is owned by Partners Group, a Swiss private investment firm that has poured billions into the company to support expansions in Virginia, Arizona and other markets.

The potential stake-sale talks are at varying stages, and some might not result in sales, the people said. KKR’s newly formed Helix Digital Infrastructure is among those evaluating the assets, according to a person with direct knowledge, in addition to other firms.

The current push builds on a record. In 2025, data-center M&A hit about $50 billion, more than double the prior year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Whether there are enough buyers with the means to absorb so many large deals at once this summer remains an open question. Ravi Purohit, the co-head of infrastructure at Paul Weiss, said that while plenty of investors want exposure to data centers, only a handful of firms can afford multibillion-dollar deals.

“There are not that many people who can write those checks,” Purohit said.

Bankers and investors involved in data center sales this summer say guaranteed access to electrical power is a major factor in deal valuations. Concerns around rising costs and delays might also drive some buyers to tie some of their payments to completion of milestones, they said.

Private-equity firms have increasingly added data-center operators to their portfolios.

Blackstone took a roughly 49% stake in Rowan Digital Infrastructure, a hyperscale developer backed by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, in April. The private-equity giant also bought data center developer QTS for around $10 billion in 2021.

Last year, a consortium led by BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and MGX agreed to buy Aligned Data Centers for about $40 billion, the largest data-center deal ever. The acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks. The prior record was Blackstone’s roughly $16 billion acquisition of AirTrunk in 2024.

But as these megadeals scale up, developers are increasingly running into fierce local opposition, driven by residents’ anxieties over rising utility bills, noise and advanced AI services in general. In some cases, it has pushed developers to pause or walk away from projects. This all makes investing in data centers riskier than it was in the past, investors said.

“I think people are downplaying the significance of Nimbyism in this country right now,” Purohit said, adding that companies looking to sell this summer will be scrutinized for how they plan to handle it.

“The more they can demonstrate to buyers that they have a constructive relationship with these communities…that actually goes a really long way,” he said.

Write to Anissa Gardizy at anissa.gardizy@wsj.com