NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft has received its launch abort system, a key milestone toward the historic crewed mission around the Moon. Devamını Oku
Apollo has agreed to buy a majority interest in Stream Data Centers (SDC) as part of a strategic bet on the booming demand for digital infrastructure driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Data centers, critical hubs housing computing hardware, are expected to see global spending of up to $6.7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey.
Stream Data Centers specializes in building, leasing, and managing large-scale data center campuses. It has completed over 20 projects and has an extensive pipeline with multi-gigawatt capacity. Apollo aims to scale SDC to become a key partner for major hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, who increasingly rely on third-party developers for land acquisition, regulatory approvals, and power sourcing for their data centers.
Apollo partner Trevor Mills emphasized the ongoing and diverse demand from hyperscalers requiring collaboration with external developers. This investment aligns with rising capital expenditures by tech giants — Meta recently raised its annual spending forecast by $2 billion to as much as $72 billion, Microsoft plans over $30 billion in its fiscal first quarter, and Alphabet increased its 2024 capex target to $85 billion, with further rises expected to meet AI demands.
While financial terms were not disclosed, Apollo’s president Jim Zelter highlighted that data centers will need $1.5 trillion in external financing by 2030, with private credit accounting for $800 billion — a space where Apollo leads. The International Energy Agency forecasts electricity demand for data centers will more than double by then, surpassing Japan’s current total consumption.
Other major asset managers like Blackstone, KKR, and BlackRock have also committed billions to data center investments, underscoring the sector’s growing importance. Stream Data Centers’ management will retain a minority stake and continue running operations post-deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron revealed on Monday that a total of 109 billion euros ($112 billion) in investment pledges have been made to boost France’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector over the coming years. The announcements were made during the Paris AI summit and include notable pledges from various global investors.
Among the major commitments is a 20 billion euro pledge from Canadian investment firm Brookfield, directed toward AI projects in France, as well as funding from the United Arab Emirates potentially reaching up to 50 billion euros in the future.
Here are some key pledges and investments:
Amazon: The U.S. retail giant pledged over 1.2 billion euros at the 2023 Choose France summit, contributing to a broader 6 billion euro investment plan to develop cloud infrastructure in France by 2031.
Apollo Global Management: The alternative asset manager has committed an initial tranche of funding for AI-related energy investments, totaling $5 billion.
Digital Realty: The real estate investment trust, which focuses on managed data centers, plans to expand its data center presence in Paris and Marseille, with investments potentially reaching 6 billion euros.
Equinix: The data center firm has pledged 630 million euros as part of a broader 750 million euro investment to establish 10 data centers around Paris and one in Bordeaux.
Fluidstack: The AI cloud platform company signed a memorandum of understanding with the French government to build one of the world’s largest AI supercomputers, powered by French nuclear energy. The project is expected to receive an initial investment of 10 billion euros, with operations set to begin by 2026.
Mistral AI: Backed by Nvidia, the French startup behind the AI assistant Le Chat, plans to create Europe’s largest supercomputer and expand its partnerships with French companies such as Veolia and Dassault Systems.
The pledge of nearly 110 billion euros signals France’s ambition to become a leading force in AI development and infrastructure, attracting substantial investments from both domestic and international sources.