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☆ New data centers require billions of dollars in utility system upgrades. You may end up paying for it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

A record surge of data center construction is underway to provide the computing and storage that underpins society's fast-expanding digital footprint and powers artificial intelligence. In areas of the country where data centers have clustered, utilities have unveiled plans to spend billions of dollars to keep up. asked David Springe, the executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. "Then you have the data centers that are having exponential load growth," Nelson said. Data centers also don't deliver the number of long term jobs – a key yardstick for public benefits – that other industries do.

Persons: Mike DeWine, David Springe, they're, Ryan Augsburger, Augsburger, Ron Nelson, Strategen, ratepayers, Nelson, Steve Helber, That's, PJM, David Lapp, Lapp, Jeffrey Shields, Shields, Kantele Franko, Shelby Moore, Meta, behemoth Blackstone, QTS, John Gavan, Daniel Tait, Tait Organizations: Amazon, Ohioans, Business, Wall, Boston Consulting Group, National Association of State, Consumer, Ohio Manufacturers ' Association, Web Services, Energy, Dominion Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Tech, Wall Street titans, American Electric Power, Buckeye Power, AEP, Buckeye, AEP Ohio, Staff, Intel, Policy Institute Locations: Ohio, ratepayers, Chester , Va, Virginia, PJM, Chicago, New Jersey, New York City, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Columbus , Ohio, Denver, New Albany , Ohio, Minnesota, Columbus, Mississippi

☆ Blackstone's data-center bets have climbed 10-fold to $100 billion in just 3 years. And it's just the start, Steve Schwarzman says.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Schwarzman said QTS was now "the largest data center company in North America" and that data centers were one of Blackstone's "highest conviction investment themes today." Jon Gray, Blackstone's president, suggested Blackstone's data center portfolio would continue to grow. The size of Blackstone's investments in data centers reflect an astonishing rise for a once-obscure industry that's gaining importance in the race to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence. Around the country, there has been a boom of data center construction. Late last year, QTS won local approval to build one of the country's largest new data center projects in Virginia.

Persons: Steve Schwarzman, Schwarzman, Blackstone's, Blackstone, QTS, Jon Gray, Gray, Michael Chae, We've Organizations: Business, Blackstone, Google, Income Trust, Digital Realty Trust Locations: North America, QTS, Virginia, Frankfurt, Paris

☆ Why a warehouse giant is planning a $25 billion push into data centers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

He will fill the newly created role of global head of data centers at the firm. Prologis's push exemplifies the growing interest among investors in data center deals, including players who have not traditionally been involved in the highly specialized industry. Warehouses have squat footprints similar to data centers and are often located in industrial areas that have proximity to the heavy electrical lines and equipment necessary to deliver voluminous power that data centers require. Warehouse growth slows as data centers accelerateDemand for data centers has steadily grown over the past decade, driven by the widespread use of cloud computing and storage across corporate America. Blackstone, for instance, has said it plans to develop as much as $50 billion of data centers in the coming years.

Persons: Chris Curtis, Curtis, Michael Hochanadel, Hochanadel, Harrison, They're, Joseph Ghazal, Ghazal, Hamid Moghadam, JLL, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone, Vince Tibone, Tibone, Prologis's, Ron Kamdem, Moghadam, Carl Beardsley, Beardsley, Chris Crosby, Prince William County, Prologis Organizations: Business, Harrison, Green, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Brookfield, Blackstone, Compass Locations: San Francisco, Dallas, America, Brookfield, Canadian, Prince William, Virginia

The AI boom has triggered a surge in spending on data centers. The AI boom has supercharged a wave of spending on data centers. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe data center boom is set to double or triple the amount of energy consumed by these data centers. A recent Cowen research report estimated that AI data centers could require more than five times the power of traditional facilities. Amazon does not disclose how many data centers it occupies, where they are located, or how much electricity they consume.

Persons: —, ChatGPT, it's, Jonathan Gray, Cowen, Marc Ganzi, Shaolei Ren, Tom Keane, Keane, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, Jahi, Matt McCollister, Pena Popo, Blackstone, Karla Moran, Moran Organizations: Service, McKinsey, Nvidia, UC Riverside, Microsoft, Washington, Getty, Lincoln Property Company, Harrison Street, Google, Meta, Amazon, Blackstone, Income Trust, QTS Realty Trust, Amazon Web Services, AP, Phoenix Locations: America, Rural America, Loudoun Meadows, Aldie , VA, Ohio, New Albany, Columbus, Northern Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Washington, DC, Virginia, New York City, Salt

☆ Blackstone's data center gamble
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The firm has recently touted its data center investments amid the artificial intelligence boom. Blackstone's push into data centers comes with its own set of challenges and questions. "You might not own apartment buildings in 10 years, but the largest data center company in the world." Meghji said in the company's video that interest from data center users in QTS data centers had doubled "since ChatGPT came out." Gerber said he had recently discussed data center investments with Blackstone representatives and has confidence in the strategy.

Persons: Blackstone, —, Glenn Schorr, Schorr, outflows, Stephen Tuckwood, Tuckwood, Jonathan Gray, Gray, Jeenah, Chad Williams, BREIT, they're, Patrick Davitt, QTS, Nadeem Meghji, Meghji, ChatGPT, Matthew Barakat, Prince William County, redemptions, Selwyn Gerber, Gerber, Matt Malone Organizations: Blackstone, Income Trust, QTS Realty Trust, Evercore, Wealth Management, Reuters, Autonomous Research, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, McKinsey, AP, Starwood, MSCI's, Los, RVW, Opto Investments, FS Investments Locations: California, BREIT, QTS, Americas, CBRE, Manassas , Virginia, Prince William, Virginia, Brookfield, Los Angeles, Bellagio, Las Vegas

☆ Amazon built a data center empire in northern Virginia. Exclusive filings reveal it's using as much energy as a major city.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Amazon does not disclose how many data centers it occupies, where they are located, or how much electricity they consume. Many of Amazon's data centers listed in the permits have been built recently and some may still be under construction. "You cannot run a data center based on the variability of solar and wind," Boston said. Any producer of renewable energy can sell one REC for every megawatt hour of renewable energy it generates. Brady, the Cushman & Wakefield data center executive, said that data centers often match their backup generation to the capacity of a data center's power supply.

Persons: Shaolei Ren, David Ward, Abraham Silverman, Sean Brady, Glenn Youngkin, Steve Helber, Terry Boston, –, Ben Hertz, Wood Mackenzie, Andy Jassy Mike Blake, Amazon's, Priya Barua, We've, Barua, Blackstone, Weston Swenson, Brady, Swenson, Josh Levi Organizations: Amazon, Washington DC, Amazon Web Services, UC Riverside, Columbia University's Center, Global Energy, Cushman & Wakefield, Dominion Energy, France's, AP, Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Republican, State Corporation Commission, Boston, state's Department, Environmental, Reuters, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Clean Energy Buyers Association, Virginia's Department, Industry, Cushman &, Dominion, Data Center Coalition Locations: Virginia, New York City, Washington, Seattle, France, Ward, Northern Virginia, West Coast, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE

☆ Across rural America, data center development booms as investors race to cater to artificial intelligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Data center development is booming and AI is expected to stoke already growing demand. Demand is sapping power grids in major markets and pushing data center development across the US. The project's neighbors include Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon – all of whom have similar plans, or are already underway with major data center projects. The message came after a torrid period of growth by the data center industry in that region. Wes Swenson, Nova's CEO, said the Reno region was becoming increasingly popular for data center development because of its access to power.

Persons: Matt McCollister, Martin Peck, Lincoln Rackhouse, Peck, Blackstone, Jonathan Gray, Drew Angerer, Bard, Gray, Pat Lynch, Robbie Sovie, Sovie, Georgia Power, Skybox, Rob Morris, Morris, George Frey, Novva, Wes Swenson, Nova's, Swenson, CBRE, Lynch Organizations: stoke, Lincoln Property Company, Harrison Street, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Lincoln, Carrier, QTS, Dominion Energy, Dominion, Washington DC, APS, QuadReal, Georgia, Reuters, Data Centers, CIM Group Locations: Ohio, New Albany, Columbus, Northern Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Virginia, Loudoun County, Washington, Arizona, Southwest, Lithia Springs , Georgia, Atlanta, Vancouver, Hutto , Texas, Austin, Eagle Mountain , Utah, Reno , Nevada, Storey County, Reno, Silicon, Salt Lake City, West Jordan , Utah, CBRE

☆ Buyout barons feast on excesses of last boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

That opens up plenty of potential loopholes which could allow borrowers to keep their old loans even after a deal. Lenders explicitly allow a company’s so-called “permitted holders” - typically its management or long-time investors - to assume responsibility for the debt. For example, one definition of a change of control is where the majority of board seats change hands. That means the company’s debt can stay put, news service 9fin reported. Interest rates for loans provided by private lenders have risen from 6.2% to 11.6% over a similar time frame.

Persons: Clayton, Rice, Breakingviews, 9fin, Cooper’s, Blackstone, Datacenters, Murray, dealmakers, Peter Thal Larsen, Sharon Lam, Streisand Neto Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Partners, P, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Cornerstone, Focus Financial, Stone, Point, Smart, Securities, Exchange, NRG Energy, QTS Realty Trust, Foresight Energy, American Consolidated Natural Resources, Foresight, P Global Market Intelligence, Thomson, & $ Locations: Dubilier, Delaware

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