Spain's ACS Group has reached a $26.8 billion data center cooperation protocol with BlackRock's GIP.

PANews, November 14 - According to the Spanish media Expansion, the Spanish ACS Group is close to reaching a cooperation protocol with BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) worth $26.8 billion (approximately €23 billion) for the development of data centers. The protocol includes GIP joining ACS's Digital & Energy division with a 50% equity stake, which consists of a gradual capital injection of €5 billion and €18 billion in debt. Against the backdrop of surging AI computing demand and limited power capacity, the valuation of digital infrastructure has reached a new high. ACS previously planned to increase the valuation of its data center business to 3 billion to 5 billion euros by 2030, and this collaboration may push its valuation to the upper end of that range. GIP manages over $180 billion in global assets and participated last month with Microsoft and Nvidia in the $40 billion acquisition of the US data center company Aligned. Morgan Stanley estimates that spending by major tech companies on AI infrastructure will reach $400 billion this year.