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Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust has raised USD 1.75 billion through its US initial public offering, reflecting growing investor interest in data centers linked to artificial intelligence expansion. The newly formed REIT plans to acquire newly built data centers leased to large investment-grade hyperscale tenants across major US markets including Northern Virginia, Ohio and Phoenix. The IPO comes at a time when global technology firms are sharply increasing spending on AI infrastructure. Blackstone, which already manages a large global digital infrastructure portfolio, continues to strengthen its presence in the fast-growing data center sector.
Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust, a newly formed real estate investment trust backed by Blackstone, has raised USD 1.75 billion through its initial public offering in the United States, according to details announced during the past week. Advertisement
The REIT sold 87.5 million shares at USD 20 each and is expected to begin trading on the NYSE under the symbol BXDC.
The trust has been created to acquire newly developed data centers and plans to focus on assets valued between USD 250 million and USD 1.5 billion. These facilities are expected to be leased to investment-grade hyperscale tenants, mainly large technology and cloud companies that require massive computing infrastructure.
The company is targeting established data center markets such as Northern Virginia, Ohio, Phoenix, Maryland and Austin. It has already identified nearly USD 25 billion worth of near-term opportunities across these regions.
Demand for data centers has continued to rise sharply due to increasing investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Data centers play a critical role in storing, processing and analysing large volumes of information required for training and operating AI models.
The IPO also reflects broader investor interest in AI-linked businesses, which have remained among the strongest segments in the US capital markets this year. Industry estimates suggest spending by major technology companies on AI infrastructure could cross USD 700 billion this year, compared to around USD 600 billion previously, as companies expand computing capacity for advanced AI applications and cloud services.
Blackstone has steadily expanded its exposure to digital infrastructure over the past few years and currently holds more than USD 150 billion in global data center assets. In 2021, the company acquired data center operator QTS Realty Trust in a deal valued at around USD 10 billion, marking one of the largest transactions in the sector at the time.
As part of the latest IPO, a Blackstone affiliate had earlier indicated plans to invest up to USD 200 million in the offering. Investors participating in the IPO were also offered bonus shares equivalent to 1% of their investment.
Several major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo acted as joint lead book-running managers for the public offering.
Source Reuters
5th Jun, 2025
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