Australia’s Macquarie will invest up to $5 billion in Applied Digital data centers Reuters writes
(Reuters) – Investment bank Macquarie will invest up to $5 billion in Applied Digital’s artificial intelligence data centers and take a 15% stake in the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, sending the technology company’s shares up more than 30% in pre-sale. .
The boom in artificial intelligence has encouraged companies to invest heavily in technology that can process large amounts of data.
Macquarie’s asset management arm has agreed to invest up to $900 million in a data center campus being developed by Applied Digital in North Dakota, the report said.
It also has a right of first refusal to invest an additional $4.1 billion in future companies’ data centers over 30 months, according to a WSJ report.
Applied Digital and Macquarie did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The new financing will be used to pay down the debt Applied Digital took on to build the North Dakota facilities and allow it to recoup more than $300 million of its equity investment in them, the report said.
Shares of Applied Digital have more than tripled in the past two years as investors bet on artificial intelligence companies and data center providers to deliver strong growth levels.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: ) said earlier this month that it will invest about $80 billion in artificial intelligence data centers in fiscal 2025 to meet growing computing needs.
Applied Digital will report its second quarter results on Tuesday after the market closes.
