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By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. services sector activity stalled in September amid a sharp slowdown in new orders, while subdued employment added to mounting evidence of sluggish labor market conditions because of sagging demand and supply of workers. The survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Friday also showed a measure of prices paid by services businesses for inputs hovering near three-year highs last month. Signs of stagnating activity and elevated services inflation could complicate matters for the Federal Reserve, with financial markets expecting another interest rate cut this month. The survey assumed more importance than usual after a lapse in funding forced a shutdown of the U.S. government early this week and delayed the release of the closely watched monthly employment report for September. It was the first time since the 2013 government shutdown that the employment report, crucial for decision-making by officials at the U.S. central bank, businesses and households, was not published. AN ECONOMY 'IN SUSPENDED ANIMATION' President Donald Trump's aggressive, sweeping tariffs on imports have eroded business sentiment, constraining activity across the services and manufacturing sectors.  "This is an economy that is in suspended animation, as businesses wait for the Trump administration to settle on a clear and predictable policy for tariffs and immigration," said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. "Once policy-related uncertainty recedes, I expect business activity to pick back up."  The ISM said its nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50 last month, the breakeven point, from 52.0 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the services PMI easing to 51.7. The services sector accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Ten service industries, including public administration, wholesale trade and utilities reported growth. Among seven that contracted were mining, construction and retail trade.  Some businesses in the accommodation and food sector said import duties were starting to have an impact, "particularly for food products from India, China and Southeast Asia, coffee from South America," adding "our year-over-year cost increases are getting progressively greater."  Construction businesses reported "tariffs are beginning to be passed through on materials that are metal based." Utilities providers said "we've had more tariff charges last month than in previous months." For other businesses like those in wholesale trade, "demand is simply weak." The survey's measure of new orders received by services businesses dropped to 50.4 from 56.0 in August. Backlog orders  were depressed for the seventh consecutive month, while export demand remained subdued.  Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher. The dollar dipped against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury yields rose. EMPLOYMENT REMAINS DEPRESSED Though a gauge of services sector employment inched up to 47.2 from 46.5 in August, it was the fourth straight month that it was mired in contraction territory, with companies not backfilling positions and also failing to find qualified workers. That aligns with other data that have suggested the labor market has stagnated. Economists blame this on the drag from uncertainty stemming from tariffs as well as the rise of artificial intelligence. At the same time, immigration raids have reduced labor supply, creating a dynamic that has left the labor market in paralysis. Data from the Chicago Federal Reserve on Thursday, which combines private and available public numbers, estimated the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in September. The government reported before the shutdown on Tuesday there were 0.98 job openings for every unemployed person in August compared to 1.0 in July. Economists expect the lackluster labor market will spur the Fed to reduce borrowing costs further this month. The U.S. central bank resumed easing policy in September, cutting its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to the 4.00%-4.25% range, to aid the labor market. But with the full inflationary effects of tariffs still to be felt, a rate cut is not guaranteed.  The ISM survey's measure of prices paid by businesses edged up to 69.4 from 69.2 in August. This price gauge has been above the 60 mark for 10 months in a row. Services inflation has firmed up in recent months, driven by higher airline fares as well as rises in prices at restaurants, and more expensive hotel and motel rooms. "The Fed is in a tough spot and now flying partly in the dark due to the delay of key releases," said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. "But if other economic indicators also land on the soft side, it will likely bite its lip over sticky inflation and cut rates again later this month." (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

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(Reuters) -A group of Tesla shareholders including SOC Investment Group and several state officials urged investors to vote against Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package at the company's November meeting, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday. In the letter to Tesla shareholders, the coalition – which also includes state treasurers of Nevada, New Mexico and Connecticut – called on investors to oppose the re-election of directors Ira Ehrenpreis, Joe Gebbia and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. The group cited what it called the board's "relentless pursuit" of retaining Musk, saying it has delayed progress on key goals set at the last annual meeting, and pointed to declining operational and financial performance and a "failure to provide meaningful real-time oversight of management." Despite reporting record quarterly deliveries on Thursday, Tesla faces worries that the expiration of the U.S. EV tax credit could turn the buying rush into a trickle. Last month, Tesla's board proposed a $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk in what it described as the largest corporate pay package in history, setting ambitious performance targets and aiming to address his push for greater control over the company. Among the state officials opposing the package is New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a longtime critic of Tesla's board and its oversight of Elon Musk. Although the city's pension funds are not among top shareholders of Tesla and other large companies, Lander and his staff have often been involved in reform campaigns that focus debates at annual meetings. His term as Comptroller ends Jan. 1, 2026. In response to Thursday's letter, Tesla said in a post on X that the performance incentive plan aligns Musk's compensation with shareholder value creation "of trillions of dollars." "If Elon Musk doesn’t deliver results, he receives nothing," the company said. (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta (Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes hit record intraday highs on Friday, driven by AI optimism and signs of a cooling labor market that strengthened the case for interest-rate cuts and put them on track for weekly gains. The stock moves underscored a relentless equities rally despite the federal government shutdown stretching to a third day and clouding visibility into economic data. Enthusiasm around AI has helped underpin sentiment this week and markets have also historically shrugged off shutdowns. However, some analysts warned a prolonged impasse could weigh on the economy. "The longer the shutdown drags out, the greater the potential for lost output and consumption thanks to the disruption in activity," said Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers. A survey by the Institute for Supply Management showed the services employment index contracted for the fourth consecutive month. A weak stand-in for the Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report, the survey is nonetheless gaining prominence amid a data blackout caused by the shutdown. "We may be flying blind for the foreseeable future as far as official government data goes, but the mosaic continues to confirm the growing downside risks to the labor market," Melson said. Bank of America Global Research also pulled forward its forecast for the next rate cut to October from December. At 11:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 429.83 points, or 0.92%, to 46,949.30, the S&P 500 gained 30.27 points, or 0.45%, to 6,745.67, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 52.20 points, or 0.23%, to 22,896.25. The small-cap Russell 2000 index also hit an intraday record high and was last up 1.4%. The S&P 500 tech sector rose 0.4%, while healthcare added 1.4% and was on track for its best week since June 2022. Communication services shares on the S&P 500 fell 0.55%, dragged by losses in Meta Platforms and Alphabet, which were down 1.55% and 0.5%, respectively. A gain in banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, which rose 1.5% and 0.7%, respectively, boosted the Dow. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was hesitant to commit to a series of rate cuts with inflation still running above the target. Investors will also scrutinize comments from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson later in the day. In corporate news, Applied Materials fell 2.7% after the chip-equipment maker forecast a $600 million hit to fiscal 2026 revenue on broader semiconductor export curbs. Shares of USA Rare Earth hit a record high and were last up 18.4% after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC the company was "in close communication" with the White House. BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners is in talks to acquire Macquarie-backed Aligned Data Centers in a deal that could value the company at $40 billion, Reuters reported, highlighting the clamor around AI infrastructure. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.52-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 141 new highs and 19 new lows. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Pooja Desai)

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By Elvira Pollina and Giulio Piovaccari TURIN (Reuters) -Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted on Friday gigawatt-scale data centres will be built in space within the next 10 to 20 years and that continuously available solar energy meant they would eventually outperform those based on Earth. Speaking at the Italian Tech Week in Turin, Bezos also compared the surge in artificial intelligence to the internet boom of the early 2000s, urging optimism despite the risk of speculative bubbles. The concept of orbital data centres has gained traction among tech giants as those on Earth have driven up demand for electricity and water to cool their servers. "These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather," Bezos said in a public conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann. "We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades." Bezos said the shift to space infrastructure is part of a broader trend of using space to improve life on Earth. "It's already happened with weather and communication satellites," he said. "The next step is data centres, then other kinds of manufacturing." Hosting data centres in space has its own challenges, including the difficulty of maintenance and carrying out upgrades and the cost of launching rockets, as well as the risk the launches may fail. The executive chair of Amazon said the AI wave shares traits with the dot-com era, when massive hype was followed by a crash. "We should be extremely optimistic that the societal and beneficial consequences of AI, like we had with internet 25 years ago, are for real and there to stay," he said. "It is important to decorrelate the potential bubbles and their bursting consequences that might or might not happen from the actual reality," Bezos said, adding that the benefits of AI were expected "to be broadly diffused and it will go everywhere". (Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Giulio Piovaccari; Writing by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Barbara Lewis)

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By Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES, October 3 (Reuters) -Superstar Taylor Swift's 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," arrived on Friday with a promotional blitz including midnight sales at Target stores, a release party at movie theaters around the globe and pop-up experiences in New York and Los Angeles. It follows "The Tortured Poets Department", which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and sold the equivalent of 8 million albums in the United States, according to Luminate, a firm that tracks music sales. Swift's latest offering is expected to be similarly lapped up by her huge global fan base, even though the music press gave the release a mixed response.    "With this album it's exactly where I am at in my life," Swift told Britain's Capital Breakfast radio show, kicking off promotional appearances. "I am exactly in the same spot as I was when I made this record so it feels very accurate to my life experience right now." Swift once again worked with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback on this album, the duo also worked on records including her best-selling album ''1989,'' and ''Reputation." Many critics praised the upbeat songs and humor on the 12-song album, whose title track features Sabrina Carpenter. Rolling Stone gave it five stars saying Swift "shoots into a fresh echelon of superstardom — and hits all her marks", while Britain's BBC called it "a triumphant pop victory lap."  Awarding it two stars, The Financial Times and Guardian newspapers were cooler, with the former saying the album was "charismatic as ever, but lacks sparkle" and the latter describing it as "dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled." Fans who went to the flagship HMV store in London to buy the album were nonetheless enthusiastic. "It's a little bit of a pivot for her," said Dan Poliak, 62, who lives in Seattle. "But the songs are great … (the album) shows off her songwriting as always, which is her strength. And it's fun. It's a fun album." 'RARE POSITION' Swift has been building anticipation for the album since August 11, when she posted a countdown on her website that kept fans waiting until 12:12 a.m. ET on August 12, when she revealed the new record. The next day, she appeared on the "New Heights" podcast hosted by her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jason Kelce. The Top-10 rated sports and pop-culture podcast provided a friendly platform for Swift to talk about the album, which she said had been inspired by the joy she felt while performing around the world on her record-setting Eras Tour. The August 13 episode has surpassed 23.4 million views on YouTube.   "She occupies a very rare position in today's fragmented music landscape: she is an active superstar with a massive and loyal fan base," said Tatiana Cirisano, vice president of music strategy for MIDiA Research. These passionate followers, or "Swifties," help the artist rise to the top of the charts, said Cirisano. "So few can get such a massive number of people listening to the same thing at once. So, it would surprise me a lot if the new release did not reach her usual level of success," she said.  Even before the album was released, the Recording Industry Association of America said Swift had made history as the first and only female artist to surpass 100 million album sales. Once "The Life of a Showgirl" dropped, Google reported spikes in searches for lyrics to new songs, including "Opalite," "Ruin the Friendship" and "Actually Romantic," according to Google Trends.  Swift's globe-trotting Eras Tour was the highest-grossing tour of all time, surpassing $2 billion in ticket sales by the time it concluded in December 2024, according to Pollstar, a trade publication that tracks the concert industry. That figure does not include the boost to hotel and Airbnb rentals, restaurant tabs and merchandise sales.  Academics have said Swift rivals other pop icons, like Elvis or Michael Jackson, in terms of her cultural impact — whether it's driving tune-in to NFL games or leading voter registration drives. Business partners have been eager to tap into the phenomenon that's been dubbed "Swiftonomics." AMC Theatres announced plans to distribute "The Official Release Party of a Showgirl," an 89-minute film that features the album's first music video, "The Fate of Ophelia," behind-the-scenes footage, and Swift's reflections on the album's songs. It will be in limited release, from Friday through Sunday, in more than 50 markets. The limited release is expected to top U.S. and Canadian box office this weekend, bringing in $30 to $50 million in ticket sales, according to Daniel Loria, senior vice president of The Boxoffice Company, which provides insights to the movie industry. Retailer Target opened some stores at midnight to sell a limited-edition vinyl pressing of the album with a "gold shimmer," and three CDs featuring exclusive album and poster art. "Taylor Swift-related products and merchandise have been a bright spot for Target over the last few years, helping to offset sales weakness elsewhere," said Michael Baker, senior research analyst for D.A. Davidson, who noted a previous exclusive Swift book and special-edition vinyl record lifted the retailer's entertainment category. Music streaming service Spotify opened a three-day pop-up in New York on Tuesday, with song lyrics hidden among displays that included a dressing room and other trappings of a concert tour. On Friday, TikTok opened its own "Life of a Showgirl" installation in Los Angeles. Swift's promotional appearances include stops on "The Graham Norton Show" on Friday, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Monday and "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Sarah Mills in London; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Toby Chopra)

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(Reuters) -HSBC said gold could trade above $4,000 per ounce in the near term, driven by geopolitical risks, fiscal uncertainties, and threats to the Federal Reserve’s independence. "Rallies can continue into 2026 aided by official sector buying; institutional demand for gold as a diversifier can stay robust," the bank said in a note dated Friday.  Spot gold scaled a record high of $3,896.49 on Thursday amid elevated uncertainty from a U.S. government shutdown and rising expectations of interest rate cuts. [GOL/] The U.S. Senate will vote again on Friday on dueling Democratic and Republican plans to end a government shutdown now entering its third day, though there is no sign that either plan will win passage. The shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, economic data reports, financial regulation, and a wide range of other activities. Meanwhile, concerns over the Fed’s independence have intensified following U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, raising fears of political interference in monetary policy decisions. HSBC said that if the Fed delivers fewer rate cuts than currently projected this year and next, it could potentially curb gold’s price rally. Gold, often seen as a safe store of value during times of uncertainty and favored in a low-interest-rate environment, has gained over 47% so far this year. Looking ahead to 2026, HSBC said central banks are expected to remain strong buyers of gold, supported by geopolitical risks and efforts to diversify away from the dollar, although purchases may ease from the peak levels seen between 2022 and 2024. (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad and Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

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By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Just days after putting on its annual devices and services showcase, Amazon is losing a vice president who helps oversee the division. Rob Williams, vice president of device software and services and a member of the elite internal group known as the S-team advising CEO Andy Jassy, left his post and will step down entirely from Amazon at year's end, according to a memo sent internally Thursday and reviewed by Reuters. Amazon confirmed the memo after a query from Reuters without providing additional detail. "Rob has had a big impact on the software and experiences of nearly all of the products we’ve created and shipped," said Panos Panay, the senior vice president of devices and services, in the memo. He said Williams decided to "retire from Amazon," but Reuters could not learn his future plans. Panay also announced the consolidation of several teams in his unit, including moving the Alexa Smart Vehicle team into the broader Alexa group. He said the changes were effective Thursday including the elevation of Tapas Roy, previously a vice president overseeing Fire TV product and engineering, to Williams' former post.  Williams will remain an advisor to Panay and on the S-team through the end of 2025, according to the memo.  It is rare for S-team, or senior leadership team, members to depart, as the group is regarded as a badge of honor within the company with unique access to the CEO. Williams, who joined the 29-member S-team in late 2022 and worked at Amazon for 12 years, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He attended Amazon’s devices event on Tuesday in New York where the Seattle firm showed off an array of new products like refreshed Echo voice assistant speakers, color Kindle e-readers and Fire TV sets with improved screen quality. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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By Portia Crowe DAKAR -The International Monetary Fund is not planning to vote on Friday on a debt misreporting waiver that would let Senegal access fresh cash, despite the subject being discussed at a board meeting, two sources close to the matter told Reuters. The country has been expecting the waiver since May, but it has yet to complete certain criteria needed for a formal board vote, the sources said.  The IMF froze Senegal's previous $1.8 billion lending programme after the country's then-newly elected leaders uncovered billions in unreported debt – a sum that has since ballooned to more than $11 billion. Senegal hopes for a waiver to allow the IMF to disburse new money under a new programme. Both sources said that discussions on a waiver were going well, and the waiver was likely to come this year. But a formal board meeting is needed to sign off on it and still has not been scheduled.  An IMF spokesperson said Friday's meeting was "intended to update Executive Directors on Senegal’s situation and on the next steps of engagement, including the imminent launch of discussions on a new Fund-supported programme." "As part of the efforts to reinforce governance and transparency, the authorities have committed to certifying the final debt figures, investigating public-financial-management shortcomings, and tracing transactions related to the misreporting in coordination with the judiciary." A spokesperson for Senegal's finance ministry declined to comment. The IMF said on Thursday it would begin formal negotiations with Senegal over a new lending programme this month. But no further lending is possible until the misreporting case is resolved, and without a waiver, Senegal could be forced to repay money from the previous programme. The debt misreporting is one of the largest ever uncovered during an active IMF monitoring programme, and the Fund has a list of measures that Senegal must take before it brings the waiver to the board. Among them is agreeing the terms of a new technical assistance audit focused on public financial management, the sources said, though that audit itself does not need to be completed before the IMF grants the waiver. (Reporting by Portia Crowe, editing by Libby George and Rodrigo Campos)

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By Marc Jones and Koh Gui Qing NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -World stocks were on course for a solid weekly gain and more record highs as the seemingly unstoppable rally in tech shares and expectations of lower U.S. interest rates helped offset U.S. government shutdown uncertainty. Investors have mostly shrugged off the shutdown, the 15th since 1981, but on Friday it meant traders weren't getting probably the single most-watched piece of market-moving economic data – monthly U.S. payrolls figures. Wall Street didn't seem bothered, with all three major stock indices hitting new record highs, pushing MSCI's main 47-country index of world shares up 0.5%, while Europe cruised towards its best week since April. [.N][.EU] Still, with no resolution in sight for the U.S. shutdown, some analysts predicted that other U.S. economic releases might be delayed later this month. "Given the lack of talk among leadership, the shutdown is more likely than not to extend through the end of next week," TD Securities said in a note to clients. "We expect the release of jobless claims to remain sidelined, with the CPI (consumer inflation) and retail sales reports at risk the following week." The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.4% after hitting an all-time high of 6,747.18 points, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%, pulling back a touch from a record peak of 22,925.43 points struck in early trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also jumped to a record high of 47,000.10 points, and was up 0.9% by late morning.   Euro zone services sector PMIs had helped the euro tick up too as they accelerated to an eight-month high thanks to moderate growth in Germany, Italy and Spain, although France's political turmoil continued to weigh there. Christopher Hodge, U.S. economist at Natixis, said the lack of payrolls data in some ways bolstered the current view among forecasters that U.S. interest rates will be cut again this month. "The baseline (of a rate cut) is the default in the absence of new information," Hodge said, adding that the markets also had plenty of practice now in dealing with U.S. shutdowns. "The only thing that could be different this time is that we are in an economic and policy cycle that is a lot more ambiguous." Benchmark government bond yields – the main driver of global borrowing costs – nudged higher in both the U.S. and the euro zone, although they dropped in the UK after poor PMI data there, and all were down for the week. Markets are almost fully pricing in a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut this month and at least four cuts by the end of 2026. GOING FOR GOLD The overnight rise in MSCI's main Asian share index meant it closed with a 2.7% weekly gain and has now risen about 23% this year.  China and some other parts of Asia had been closed for a holiday, meaning trading was thinner than usual although Taiwan hit a record high and Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.5% ahead of the crucial weekend vote that will determine that country's next prime minister. [.T] Weiheng Chen, global investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said investors appear willing to give Washington time to resolve its disagreements, though a prolonged government shutdown might start to move markets. "For now, investors remain more focused on the potential impacts of the Fed's rate-cutting cycle, trade and immigration policy, economic data and corporate earnings," Chen said. With no government reports on the labor market to take cues from, investors have turned to alternative data from public and private sources and so far they point to a sluggish U.S. labor market. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM), for example, said on Friday its non-manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50 last month, the breakeven level, from 52.0 in August, as U.S. services sector activity stalled in September amid a sharp slowdown in new orders, It has left the dollar under pressure and Friday's moves saw sag again when measured against a basket of other top currencies. It was also on course for its biggest weekly drop since August. [/FRX] The Japanese yen has been the biggest beneficiary of that dip although it weakened to 147.44 per dollar on Friday after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda left markets guessing on when it will next hike interest rates. In commodities, oil prices recovered slightly on the day but were on course for their steepest weekly drop in over three months. Brent crude futures were at $64.72 a barrel as U.S. trading gathered pace while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $61.15 a barrel. Precious metal gold, meanwhile, was up again and on course for its seventh straight week of gains at $3,876.69, after hitting a new record of $3,896 an ounce on Thursday. It is viewed as a safe-haven asset during times of uncertainty and thrives on low interest rates. It has now surged 47% this year. [GOL/] "As the U.S. dollar’s status as the global reserve currency is tested, gold is emerging as the pre-eminent safe haven, and we continue to view it as the ultimate diversifier," said Greg Hirt, global CIO for multi-asset at AllianzGI. (Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton, Mark Heinrich and Nick Zieminski)

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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 interest in data centers that cater to the booming market for artificial intelligence tools 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. Aligned, MGX and Mubadala did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Macquarie, BlackRock and GIP declined to comment on the news. 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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