Blackstone has announced a pending acquisition of AirTrunk, the Asia Pacific's leading hyperscale data center operator, for AU$24 billion (US$16 billion), marking its largest investment in the region to date.

Information on the Target

AirTrunk, founded by Robin Khuda in 2015, has become the leading data center platform in the Asia Pacific region, boasting 11 facilities across major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Osaka. The company specializes in hyper-scale cloud computing, designing, constructing, and operating scalable, cost-efficient, secure, and sustainable data centers. AirTrunk focuses on delivering tailored solutions for significant technology companies and cloud service providers, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, in response to their increasing demand for power and capacity.

Since the acquisition of an 88% stake by Macquarie Asset Management and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in 2020, AirTrunk has expanded rapidly from five to eleven data centers and increased its contracted capacity eightfold. This growth has positioned AirTrunk as a crucial player in the hyperscale data center market, capitalizing on the surging demand fueled by advancements in cloud computing and generative AI.

Industry Overview in Australia

The data center industry in Australia has witnessed significant growth due to the increasing reliance on digital services and cloud computing. With a surge in data generation and storage needs, companies are investing heavily in establishing data cent