By Akash Sriram (Reuters) -BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is in talks to acquire Macquarie-backed Aligned Data Centers, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The acquisition could value the data center operator at around $40 billion, one of the sources said. The deal underscores surging investor demand for data centers that help train artificial intelligence models and power their growing adoption across the globe. The talks, which involve Abu Dhabi-based AI investment firm MGX, are at an advanced stage, the sources said. Bloomberg News first reported the development on Thursday. MGX, established by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and G42, may invest in Aligned as part of the transaction, the people familiar with the matter said. Mubadala holds a minority stake in the data center operator. GIP, BlackRock, Aligned, Macquarie, MGX and Mubadala did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Texas-based Aligned, which specializes in AI-related infrastructure, raised more than $12 billion in January. The company operates nearly 80 data centers, with more than 5 gigawatts of capacity in operation or development, according to its website. Aligned counts hyperscale cloud providers and artificial intelligence firms such as Lambda among its customers. If completed, the Aligned deal would mark one of the largest-ever acquisitions of a private data center company. The scramble for computing capacity has intensified as OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and Abu Dhabi's MGX plan to invest in Stargate, a $500-billion-dollar supercomputer project to house growing computing needs. Investors have poured record sums into digital infrastructure this year, betting that rising power needs will make data centers critical real estate assets. McKinsey estimates investments in AI-related infrastructure could reach $6.7 trillion by 2030. GIP is also in late-stage talks to buy utility firm AES in a deal that could be valued at more than $40 billion, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. (Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham, Gnaneshwar Rajan and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Shinjini Ganguli)
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