Jan 16, 2025

Aligned Data Centers gets $12B to expand its AI compute capacity SHARE Data center operator Aligned Data Centers LLC said today it has raised a massive $12 billion in funding in order to accelerate the build out of its artificial intelligence-focused infrastructure. The money came from two sources, with the company saying it has secured $5 billion in primary equity from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management, along with $7 billion in new debt commitments. Aligned, which is based in Plano, Texas, said it will use the money to construct more than five gigawatts of future AI computing capacity across North America and Latin America in order to meet skyrocketing demand from its customers. Aligned Chief Executive Andrew Schaap said his company is uniquely positioned to meet the growing demand for AI compute capacity, as it has more than a decade of experience in deploying the innovative cooling solutions required for the graphics processing units that power most AI workloads. “This investment will fuel our continued growth, enabling us to deliver cutting-edge solutions that meet the evolving demands of our customers today and in the future,” he insisted. Aligned operates a number of colocation data centers that rent capacity to customers, and it also builds data center facilities to scale for hyperscale and enterprise firms. It currently operates data centers in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Northern Virginia, and it is building additional sites in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio and Virginia. In addition, it has a massive operation in Latin America, having acquired a company called OData in May 2023, which has facilities in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. It’s also an investor in the Canadian data center operator QScale SEC, which gives it a foothold in that country, too. The rapid growth of AI over the last couple of years, driven by the popularity of large language models and chatbots like ChatGPT, has led to rising demand for high-capacity data centers that can cluster thousands of GPUs together in order to run those workloads. Aligned’s business has grown tremendously as a result of this demand. Big tech firms like Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC are also spending billions of dollars to build out their AI compute capacity. Last week, Microsoft revealed that it’s planning to invest as much as $80 billion into its data center building program in fiscal 2025 as it strives to maintain its leadership in AI innovation. That came after it revealed in September it’s collaborating with BlackRock Inc. to create a $100 billion fund that will fuel the development of new data centers and energy projects. Energy is just as important as the data centers themselves, which explains why Microsoft , Google and Amazon.com Inc . have all expressed an interest in nuclear power sources recently. There are many specialist firms operating in this industry too. For instance, Crusoe Energy Systems LLC, which is focused on providing clean energy for data centers, last month closed on a $600 million funding round. Image: SiliconANGLE/Microsoft Designer A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE: Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE. One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.