Capital Markets & Investment Flows Into U.S. Data Center Infrastructure

$40 billion. That’s the estimated price tag of Macquarie Asset Management’s 2025 sale of Aligned Data Centers to a consortium including BlackRock, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, one of the largest data-infrastructure deals in history. The message from the capital markets is clear: data centers have become one of the most sought-after alternative and real-asset classes in the U.S.

Data Centers as a Core Real-Asset Class

The data center sector has evolved from a niche corner of technology infrastructure into a mainstream institutional investment category, alongside logistics, life sciences, and renewable energy. Several powerful forces are driving this transformation:

AI and cloud computing continue to accelerate hyperscale demand.
Limited power availability in major U.S. metros is creating scarcity and pricing power.
Long-term leases and high credit tenants provide cash-flow stability.
Inflation protection comes through escalation clauses and strong replacement-cost fundamentals.

Institutional investors now view data centers as core-plus infrastructure, assets with stable yields but embedded growth potential tied to the digital economy.

The Capital Stack: How Investors Are Financing Growth

Capital for data-center projects is now flowing through diverse financial structures once reserved for large-scale infrastructure:

REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts): Publicly traded REITs such as Digital Realty and Equinix continue to dominate development pipelines and portfolio acquisitions.
Private equity and infrastructure funds: Managers like KKR, Brookfield, and Macquarie are raising dedicated digital-infrastructure vehicles to deploy billions into hyperscale and edge facilities.
Pension funds and sovereign wealth investors: Long-duration investors are increasingly drawn to the asset’s stable yield profile and inflation linkage.
Project finance and private credit: Specialized lenders are offering hybrid construction-to-term loans, reflecting growing confidence in the sector’s risk-adjusted returns.

These investors are underwriting data centers not merely as real estate, but as essential utility-like infrastructure, blending both operational and technological considerations into valuation.

Recent Mega-Deals and Data Center Valuation Trends

Over the past 18 months, transaction volumes have surged, pushing valuations higher:

Aligned Data Centers (2025): Estimated $40 billion sale by Macquarie to BlackRock, Microsoft, and NVIDIA.
CyrusOne and QTS transactions: Multi-billion-dollar take-privates that redefined pricing benchmarks in prior years.
Portfolio trades: Dozens of single-asset and JV recapitalizations across Virginia, Texas, and Arizona have commanded premium pricing.

Yields are tightening:
Cap rates for prime U.S. wholesale data centers typically range from 4.5% to 6%, depending on market, power availability, and tenant quality. That’s among the lowest yield spreads in commercial real estate, on par with logistics and below traditional office or retail assets.

The Role of Equipment Appraisals in Data Center Valuation and Underwriting

When investors acquire data-center projects, equipment valuation becomes a critical input. Unlike a standard office or industrial property, a data center’s value is heavily influenced by its power and cooling infrastructure, the mechanical and electrical systems that enable uptime and performance.

Why Equipment Appraisals Matter

Value allocation: Accurately quantifying the replacement cost of generators, chillers, switchgear, and UPS systems allows investors to separate real-property and personal-property components.
Underwriting precision: Lenders and equity partners use these appraisals to model depreciation, maintenance reserves, and insurance coverage.
Risk mitigation: Knowing the condition and remaining life of key systems helps reduce exposure to unexpected CapEx and operational downtime.
Financing unlock: Verified equipment values can support sale-leasebacks or structured financings where assets are pledged as collateral.

In short, robust equipment appraisals transform uncertainty into actionable data, improving deal underwriting and investor confidence.

Looking Ahead: The Convergence of Capital, Infrastructure, and Intelligence

As AI workloads, edge computing, and digital-sovereignty policies expand, the U.S. data-center market is poised for another wave of investment. Institutional capital is no longer asking if data centers fit their allocation models, but how much exposure they should hold.

The ability to quantify and value every component, from land and buildings to servers and switchgear, creates a foundation for smarter investment decisions. Accurate appraisals not only inform buy/sell choices, but also help secure financing, optimize portfolios, and reduce risk across the capital stack.

Key Takeaway

Data centers have become the new infrastructure frontier, an asset class where real estate, technology, and power converge. For investors, the combination of reliable yields, scalable growth, and quantifiable asset value makes data-center infrastructure one