I Squared bets on AI inference with $225 million data center buy from Cogent

May 26 (Reuters) - Investment manager I Squared Capital connected Tuesday said that it has bought 10 information ‌center facilities from Cogent Fiber for $225 cardinal successful ‌cash, marking its latest stake connected AI infrastructure.

I Squared said it plans ​to usage the assets arsenic a “seed” for a caller U.S. information halfway operating platform, committing a further $1 cardinal for upgrades, expansions and acquisitions.

The deal, spanning 9 locations, underscores the ‌shift from large, centralized ⁠data centers utilized for exemplary grooming to those deployed person to end-users for AI inference.

The ⁠distinction betwixt exemplary grooming and inference reflects the quality betwixt “learning” and “doing."

“Location, power, and connectivity are the 3 variables that find ​a information ​center’s semipermanent value, and ​these facilities person each 3 ‌in markets wherever caller proviso is severely constrained,” said Gautam Bhandari, co-founder and managing spouse astatine I Squared Capital.

The woody includes astir 53 megawatts of powerfulness capableness and astir 259,000 quadrate feet of colocation abstraction crossed 9 U.S. ‌markets, including Chicago, Atlanta and ​Houston.

Cogent Fiber is an indirect wholly ​owned subsidiary of net ​service supplier Cogent Communications Holdings. Shares of ‌the institution person shed astir ​16% successful 2026.

I ​Squared Capital invests successful and manages integer infrastructure, including information centers.

Last month, the concern manager agreed to get ​a bulk ‌stake successful Elea, 1 of the largest carrier-neutral information ​center platforms successful Brazil.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas successful ​Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)