Germany’s DTCP said Tuesday it will invest over £1 billion (around $1.3 billion) to back a newly launched UK data center in a deal that highlights Europe’s push to meet skyrocketing global demand for more infrastructure.
The rapid adoption of AI technology has helped drive a voracious appetite for data-center capacity around the globe. As a result, investors have been funneling more capital into the boom, with PitchBook data showing that PE investment in data centers and related sectors surpassed $100 billion over the past four years.
In September, Blackstone and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to buy Australian data center operator AirTrunk for A$24 billion ($16 billion) in the biggest deal in the sector to date.
Demand for data centers across Europe is expected to jump from about 10 gigawatts last year to roughly 35 gigawatts by 2030, according to a report by McKinsey.
Newly launched GreenScale, backed by DTCP, is going online with 170 megawatts of service across two centers—one in Derry, Northern Ireland, and another in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Together, the sites comprise DTCP’s acquisition of AtlanticHub last month.
DTCP said its investment in GreenScale will fund the development of an additional 300MW in the Nordic region, and the eventual construction of over 1 gigawatts of capacity in Europe. One gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts.
Led by CEO Daniel Thomas, GreenScale said it would focus on developing sustainable data centers. Ireland in particular has seen rapid expansion in data center development, which sharply ramped up pressure on its power grids and renewable power sources. According to government statistics, data centers’ share of total metered electricity consumption in the country rose from 5% in 2015 to 21% in 2023.
Featured image by Andrey Semenov/Getty Images/iStockphoto
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