Colocation & Hyperscale REITs

Goldman Sachs strategist Laura Cyr said in a Monday note that the US data center growth outlook through 2027 remains largely unchanged despite rising political and community opposition. Cyr raised Goldman's year-end 2026 US data center capacity forecast by 5 gigawatts to 64 gigawatts, while cutting its year-end 2027 forecast by 5 gigawatts to 90 gigawatts. She now expects US data center power demand to grow 38%, or 12 gigawatts, in 2026 and 38%, or 17 gigawatts, in 2027, on a December versus December basis. Cyr pointed to Governor Abbott's directive to halt new Texas data center permits pending ERCOT and Texas Water Development Board audits, and an NBC News poll showing 64% of voters would be less likely to support a candidate who backs a local data center versus 11% who would be more likely. Separately, BofA Global Research estimated that up to 75% of a data center's total water consumption happens off-site, that GPU-based server electricity demand is growing roughly 30% per year, and that every incremental megawatt of new data center capacity embeds roughly 60 to 75 tons of metals, primarily copper.

Ares Secondaries funds have expanded their investment in Sabey Data Center Properties, LLC, bringing their total commitment to more than $500 million. The additional investment builds on Ares' minority equity investment in SDCP announced in July 2026. SDCP owns and operates hyperscale and enterprise data center campuses in top-tier United States markets totaling 275 megawatts, with an expansion pipeline expected to reach approximately 737 megawatts by 2033. Kevin Verdi, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at National Real Estate Advisors, said the follow-on investment reflects continued conviction in SDCP's long-term value proposition and growth trajectory. Tim Mirick, President of Sabey Data Center Properties, said the additional commitment reflects confidence in the platform's strength and its ability to develop and operate mission-critical infrastructure. Jamie Sunday, Co-Head of Real Estate Secondaries at Ares, said the firm continues to see significant runway for growth.

ALT Telecom Public Company Limited, or ALT, disclosed that it is in negotiations for additional deals with global-tier customers, the Global Hyperscalers, in the fourth quarter of 2026, after signing network and digital infrastructure lease contracts worth a total of approximately 2 billion baht in the third quarter of 2026, with a contract term of 20 years. Preeyaporn Tangpaosak, Managing Director, told the Stock Vision news team that the company targets double-digit growth in revenue in the second half of 2026, driven by recurring revenue recognition from its existing network. The expansion of its large-customer base has raised the value of work awaiting revenue recognition, or backlog, for the group from 5.115 billion baht as of the second quarter of 2026 to approximately 6.9 billion baht in September 2026. The company is also proceeding with bids for smart grid power network systems and AMI smart meter installation work for the Provincial Electricity Authority and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, as well as government work in security and digital fields, with a combined value of several billion baht. It is also pushing to connect networks in the Eastern Economic Corridor, or EEC, with data centers in Bangkok and overseas, setting a target internal rate of return, or IRR, for new projects of no less than 10 to 15 percent. The company sees three key drivers supporting revenue and profit growth over the next 12 to 18 months: the data center and AI trend, growth in smart meter and smart grid work, and margin expansion from operating leverage.

Blackfuel announced in late September 2026 that it has chosen Digital Realty's BCN1 data center in Barcelona to host and scale its liquid-cooled, AMD GPU-powered AI inference platform, tightly integrated with the ServiceFabric interconnection network for low-latency, private connectivity. The move comes shortly after Digital Realty's plan to add a new cable landing station at its LAX12 facility, which is slated to support subsea cables from 2028, tying subsea routes into the company's interconnection fabric. Together, the two projects support Digital Realty's near-term interconnection and AI demand catalyst, including the conversion of a US$1.9b lease backlog and US$410m of recent hyperscale signings into revenue. The company's narrative projects $9.7 billion in revenue and $1.4 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 12.7% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $0.6 billion from $758.3 million today. The central debate remains Digital Realty's enlarged 1.4 GW, US$4.25b to US$4.75b 2026 CapEx plan and whether demand will match that build out, with three fair value estimates from the Simply Wall St Community spanning roughly US$223 to US$303 per share.

NETSTREIT has secured $550 million in additional term loan commitments and amended its existing credit facilities, extending its debt maturity profile and repaying a $200 million term loan due in February 2028. The financing comprises a $100 million increase to its existing 5.5-year senior unsecured term loan, a $50 million increase to its existing 7-year term loan, and a new $400 million senior unsecured 7-year delayed draw term loan. The $100 million and $50 million incremental term loans were funded at closing, while the $400 million facility was undrawn and can be drawn through September 28, 2027. The company said the transactions leave it with no material debt maturities until early 2029 and largely address its debt capital needs through 2027.

Oracle shares reversed an early gain and turned lower Thursday after the Financial Times reported that Tencent Holdings had locked in a five-year lease spanning several Oracle data centers across Southeast Asia. Under the reported terms, Tencent would gain access to about 100,000 cutting-edge AI chips it otherwise can't obtain inside China, with the arrangement said to be worth roughly $7 billion and close to a third of that due upfront. Neither company responded when asked to confirm the details. Oracle stock had jumped nearly 2% before Thursday's opening bell on the report, but the shares gave up that advance amid overall market weakness and were down 0.82% at $136.18 at the time of publication. The deal reflects a broader scramble among Chinese tech firms for overseas computing capacity as domestic chip supply stays tight and U.S. export restrictions persist.

KGI Securities unveiled its top stock picks for October 2026, recommending accumulation of stocks in the private investment and data center themes, comprising DELTA, GULF, WHA, STECON and CENTEL. The research team believes the market in October is likely to rebound, as the market has already priced in much of the global economic risk, including uncertainty in the Middle East and surging bond yields in major markets worldwide. It expects the SET Index to recover, and sees a high chance the Fed will pause rate hikes temporarily after August core PCE came in below consensus. It also sees a fairly high possibility that the US and Iran will reach some form of ceasefire agreement soon. On domestic factors, the Thai government began rolling out the final phase of consumption stimulus measures today and will shift its focus to stimulating private investment, including PPP-model infrastructure projects and FDIs. As for STECON, it signed new project contracts worth 10 billion baht, equal to 20% of its 2026F target of 50 billion baht, lifting its backlog to 116.4 billion baht, and it expects to win another 70 billion baht in projects, mainly data centers and power plants. Meanwhile, GULF has identified data center demand of more than 2GW of capacity expected to secure Direct PPAs, and the PDP2026 plan is expected to add another 20-30GW of renewable energy capacity and another 20GW of gas-fired capacity. For CENTEL, the research team remains positive after updating information with management, noting that RevPAR booked in Q3/2026F recovered year-on-year by a mid-single-digit rate from -10% in Q2/2026, and is expected to improve further during the high season in Q4/2026F. The recommended portfolio for September fell 2.6%, underperforming the overall market, which declined 2.0%.

Digital Realty announced that Blackfuel has selected its BCN1 data center in Barcelona as the foundation for deploying and scaling its AI inference platform. The multi-megawatt deployment is built on liquid-cooled Dell Technologies AI Factory infrastructure and AMD GPUs, and integrates Blackfuel's inference platform with ServiceFabric, Digital Realty's software-defined interconnection platform. Delivered through private connectivity, ServiceFabric provides a low-latency, low-jitter network path that can reduce Time-to-First-Token by 50 milliseconds, shortening overall task completion time by 1 to 2.5 seconds for agentic workflows requiring 20 to 50 sequential inference API calls compared with public internet connectivity. ServiceFabric extends across more than 800 Digital Realty and third-party data centers worldwide, giving Blackfuel a global connectivity fabric to scale AI services beyond Barcelona. Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer of Digital Realty, said the next phase of AI will be measured in useful tokens per megawatt, and Barcelona is the first proof point.

Land and Houses Securities issued an analysis recommending a buy on BDMS shares with a target of 25.0 baht, assessing support at 19.3/19.5 baht and resistance at 20.4/21.0 baht. July revenue accelerated 8% year on year, up from only about 1% year on year in the first half of 2026, supported by a 9% year-on-year rise in Thai patients and a 6% year-on-year increase in foreign patients. The research team expects third-quarter 2026 profit to recover both year on year and quarter on quarter, viewing the second quarter of 2026 as this year's profit trough. For BGRIM shares, it recommends a buy with a target of 21.5 baht, assessing support at 18.0/18.4 baht and resistance at 20.0/20.8 baht. It sees the new Power Development Plan, due to take effect soon, as increasingly positive given rising electricity demand from data centers, with expectations of 300 to 500 megawatts of new generating capacity. Meanwhile, the NAKWOL 1 project, a wind project in South Korea, is 92% complete and will be a key turning point in raising the renewable share to reduce reliance on profit from small power producers. The first and second phases of the data center business are already 100% fully contracted with customers, with commercial operation dates expected by the third quarter of 2027, along with plans to expand to 300 megawatts both domestically and overseas.

Phaidra announced a partnership with Aligned Data Centers to deploy its Prism platform across Aligned's data center portfolio. Prism is a read-only intelligence layer purpose-built for data center operations that continuously analyzes telemetry from building management systems, electrical power monitoring systems, and other infrastructure systems alongside operational documentation to identify early-stage irregularities, accelerate root cause analysis, and deliver contextual guidance through a natural language interface. Phaidra has integrated NVIDIA DSX Exchange, part of NVIDIA DSX OS, into Prism, using it as a common data layer to unify information across mechanical, electrical, power, cooling, and IT systems. Jim Gao, CEO and Co-founder at Phaidra, said the partnership brings greater speed, efficiency, and reliability to data center operations, while Aligned CTO Michael Welch said the assistive intelligence amplifies operators' expertise and adds value in new capacity commissioning and quality assurance. The companies said the partnership reflects Aligned's continued investment in technologies that enhance operational excellence across its portfolio.

A consortium backed by BlackRock and IFM Investors has entered exclusive talks to acquire Stack Infrastructure's Asia-Pacific data centres from Blue Owl Capital in a potential US$20.00–US$25.00 billion deal, with due diligence under way and no agreement yet finalized. The move sits alongside BlackRock's expanded AI Infrastructure Partnership and its major Aligned Data Centres acquisition, underlining how aggressively the firm is building an AI-focused data centre footprint across regions. BlackRock's narrative projects $36.2 billion in revenue and $10.8 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 9.9% yearly revenue growth and roughly a $4.2 billion earnings increase from $6.6 billion today. Five members of the Simply Wall St Community currently place BlackRock's fair value between US$1,140.65 and US$1,323.31, against a $1323 fair value estimate implying 24% upside to its current price. Investors are also weighing the risk that expanding private markets and AI infrastructure exposure raises integration and cost pressures that could affect BlackRock's ability to sustain its current earnings profile.

Globe Telecom Inc. is betting the artificial intelligence boom can turn its data-center venture into its next billion-dollar business, with President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Raymond Cruz saying the carrier plans to spend at least $1 billion in 2027, mainly to expand its data business. Capital expenditures are expected to equal 23% to 28% of revenue over the next few years. Globe's data-center foothold runs through ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Philippines, a venture with parent Ayala Corp. and Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. that operates five facilities, with capacity set to reach 30 to 35 megawatts by the end of 2026 before rising to 124 MW over the following three years through new sites and expansion of existing facilities. A listing of the venture is among the options being considered to fund further expansion, Cruz said, adding that capacity constraints in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia make the Philippines the next destination for data-center customers. The data-center bet follows Globe's success with Mynt Inc., the company behind GCash, which was valued at $5 billion in its last funding round in 2024 and whose IPO is expected to raise about 60 billion pesos next month in what would be the country's biggest listing.

Schneider Electric has unveiled the world's first fully Software-Defined Medium Voltage switchgear, announced at YOTTA 2026 in Las Vegas. The architecture delivers up to 3× faster ordering and manufacturing, up to 2× faster commissioning, zero-downtime upgrades, and a simplified footprint with less wiring and fewer components, according to Schneider Electric studies and estimations. The next-generation Software Defined MV Equipment has already been deployed in the field through a pilot with Equinix in a live colocation data center environment. Schneider Electric will extend the Software Defined MV architecture across its medium voltage portfolio and, progressively, the rest of the powertrain, including PremSet and the AirSeT range comprising GM AirSeT, RM AirSeT, and SM AirSeT, with pilot programs continuing through 2027 and broader availability to follow in 2028. Melton Chang, Executive Vice President of Schneider Electric's Power Systems Division, said the switchgear brings the logic of software to medium voltage equipment so customers can deploy in a fraction of the time, standardize across regions, and add new capabilities with zero downtime.

S&P Global Ratings reaffirmed Malaysia's 'A-/A-2' foreign currency and 'A/A-1' local currency sovereign credit ratings on Monday, keeping a stable outlook on expectations that steady growth and narrowing budget deficits will sustain the credit profile over the next two to three years. The agency pointed to a global surge in generative artificial intelligence investments and sustained high energy export values, forecasting real gross domestic product growth of 5.5% in 2026 after a 5.2% expansion in 2025. Malaysia has drawn an estimated MYR386 billion in cumulative data center investments between 2021 and mid-2026, though S&P warned that rapid digital infrastructure expansion is escalating energy and water constraints that could temper future capital inflows. On the fiscal side, S&P estimates the general government deficit will narrow to 3.1% of GDP in 2026, helped by broader sales tax frameworks and targeted subsidy rationalizations including the shift to market pricing for diesel. The agency also flagged that retaining subsidized RON95 petrol prices amid global crude volatility pushed subsidy outlays back up to 18% of the federal operating budget in the first quarter of 2026, while capital equipment imports for data centers lifted gross external financing needs above current account receipts and reserves, a pressure S&P expects to ease as projects are completed.

Cipher Digital agreed a 10-year, US$5.2b extension to its Fluidstack contract at Barber Lake, announced in late September 2026. The extension brings the total Fluidstack term at Barber Lake to 20 years and lifts contracted revenue tied to that deal to US$9b. Barber Lake project capacity under the expanded Fluidstack agreement is now planned at 300 MW, with phased delivery and cost sharing. Under the revised cost sharing, Cipher Digital must shoulder the first US$359.3m of budget overruns before any reimbursement, a burden that weighs on a company with heavy capital needs and less than one year of cash runway. Investors will be watching whether Cipher hits the staged delivery and rent start for the first Barber Lake data halls in Q4 2026, when the contract is scheduled to begin generating lease income against the new spending obligations.

J.P. Morgan analysts said Europe's accelerating data centre buildout could strengthen the case for new nuclear capacity as technology companies seek dependable, low-carbon electricity to power AI infrastructure. European data centre electricity consumption could rise from about 70 TWh currently to roughly 115 TWh by 2030, according to European Commission estimates cited in the report, and J.P. Morgan forecasts an additional 89 TWh of annual European data centre power demand by 2030 compared with 2023, with Iberia and the Nordics accounting for about 45% of the increase. Europe's announced data centre pipeline stood at 66.1 GW at the end of 2025, compared with 10.8 GW of live capacity. Google recently agreed to a 22-year power purchase agreement with Fortum covering nuclear generation in Finland, carrying an estimated premium of roughly 60% to forward electricity prices, following similar nuclear agreements by Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Google in the United States. Small modular reactors could play a larger role as demand grows, though Europe currently has no operating commercial SMRs, with the first projects targeted for the early 2030s, and the European Commission estimates €241 billion of investment will be required through 2050 for new large reactors and lifetime extensions.

Microsoft plans to invest over US$10b in cloud and AI infrastructure across Gulf countries by 2030. The program targets new subsea and terrestrial connectivity plus data center capacity aimed at regional digital resilience. Management is partnering with Middle Eastern AI organizations to build local capabilities on top of Microsoft's cloud platforms. The US$10b Gulf buildout is one piece of Microsoft's broader AI and cloud spending, which the company frames as a requirement for future leadership rather than a discretionary extra. The practical tell for investors will be Microsoft's disclosed AI and cloud CapEx run rate through to 2030 versus reported Azure and broader cloud revenue, with more granular Azure numbers expected under the company's new reporting structure.