EdgeIR.com - Digital Infrastructure News

DC BLOX lands $850M green loan for Southeast hyperscale data center expansion

Stephen Mayhew — Thu, 28 May 2026 10:00:40 +0000

Data center and fiber network solutions provider DC BLOX has obtained a new green Senior Secured Credit Facilities loan for $850 million, up from the original $265 million. The financing will support the company's development of hyperscale data centers throughout the southeastern U.S. The additional capital will also support existing and future projects, including those already pre-leased. “Our best-of-breed financing terms and execution with our finance partners speaks volumes of our track record of execution and our strong customer composition,” says Melih Ileri, chief investment officer of DC BLOX. “We were able to further develop our finance relationships with this loan and set ourselves up for accelerated growth. This financing also validates our development and operational capabilities, such as our ability to secure powered land, deliver projects on time, and meet the requirements of hyperscale customers.” The financing is provided by Future Standard, a prominent alternative asset manager. First Citizens Bank and Bank of America arranged the loan. The announcement reflects growing investor confidence in second-tier U.S. markets, particularly the Southeast where power availability, fiber connectivity, and land economics are becoming increasingly attractive compared to constrained Tier 1 metros like Northern Virginia. Strategically, this positions DC BLOX as a serious regional infrastructure player capable of supporting AI, cloud, and edge workloads with scalable hyperscale campuses and integrated fiber assets. The “green loan” structure is also notable because it shows sustainability-linked financing is becoming mainstream in digital infrastructure, especially for operators that can demonstrate energy efficiency, renewable integration, and modern facility design. More broadly, the deal underscores how infrastructure capital is shifting toward operators that can secure power, deliver capacity quickly, and meet hyperscaler requirements in emerging regional markets. A trend increasingly shaping the next phase of U.S. AI data center expansion.

Edgecore targets telecoms and MSPs with Praxis edge AI platform

Stephen Mayhew — Wed, 27 May 2026 10:00:50 +0000

Edgecore Networks unveiled its Praxis edge AI services platform for AI service providers at this year’s MWC. Praxis is built for managed service providers, Internet service providers and AI-driven SaaS and VaaS products. The platform supports its five hardware configurations through Synaptics Incorporated and Qualcomm Incorporated from 1 to 70 TOPS. "AI is moving to the edge, and the companies that establish an early presence will gain a significant advantage in delivering value to their customers," says Teng Tai Hsu, vice president at Edgecore Networks. "We built Praxis based on our experience deploying and managing hardware at scale in real-world environments. Our role is to provide AI service companies with a solid hardware foundation, allowing them to focus on growing their services and accelerating core business innovation." Praxis solves challenges for edge AI deployment bringing AI to existing infrastructure, reducing cloud computing costs, and keeping sensitive data for latency, sovereignty, and privacy reasons. Strategically, this reflects the broader industry trend toward decentralized AI infrastructure and “AI-as-a-service at the edge,” where telecom operators and managed infrastructure providers become regional AI delivery platforms rather than just connectivity providers. That aligns closely with the renewed momentum around edge AI adoption.

Armada raises $230M at $2B valuation, lands Johnson Controls deal to scale U.S. AI infrastructure

Stephen Mayhew — Tue, 26 May 2026 21:06:43 +0000

Edge AI infrastructure solutions provider Armada announced a 500+ job deal with Johnson Controls to construct modular data centres at a new plant in Arizona. Armada raised $230M in an oversubscribed Series B round, valuing the company at $2B. The funds will expedite deployment of the U.S. AI stack while meeting growing demand from customers across various industries. "The AI race will not be won by one-off projects," says Dan Wright, co-founder and CEO of Armada. "It will be won by the companies and countries that can manufacture, deploy, and continuously improve AI infrastructure, with speed, scale and sovereignty. At Galleon Forge One, we will do what America does best: build the industrial base to win." Armada and Johnson Controls have an existing master agreement for modular data center systems globally, with units already deployed worldwide. With a 540% Y-O-Y growth in customer bookings from FY25-26, and a staggering 2000% growth in Q1 FY27 bookings. Armada has achieved successful deployments with the U.S. Navy, Aker BP, and WinDC that demonstrate its ability to deliver edge computing solutions. Armada also collaborates with companies such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, Palantir, and Dell Technologies to deploy AI infrastructure for customers.

Structure Research says AI growth is driving a data center sustainability shift

Stephen Mayhew — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:04:04 +0000

Structure Research, an independent digital infrastructure research and consulting firm published its 2026 State of Environmental Impact Report. The report tracks developments from 2020-2025 with metrics such as carbon emissions, energy consumption, renewable energy use, and water consumption from reported environmental data from 38 data center providers and nine hyperscale cloud platforms. In 2025, AI infrastructure pushed global energy consumption in data centers to about ~1.23% (by comparison, global energy consumption was estimated to be around 0.81% in 2020). The industry shows progress in efficiency and renewable energy adoption, with hyperscalers sourcing ~92% of energy from carbon-free sources in 2025. As new data centers relied on liquid cooling to enable AI, water consumption became an issue leading to the implementation of closed-loop systems and non-potable water usage strategies. The report showcases the latest Structure Research Sustainability Quadrant (SRSQ), which aims to benchmark ESG leaders and is aimed at multiple stakeholders interested in identifying the environmental impact of data centers and digital infrastructure. A complimentary copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Blackstone and Google launch $5B TPU cloud venture with 500MW of AI capacity

Stephen Mayhew — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:57:49 +0000

Blackstone and Google are forming a joint venture to create a new TPU cloud company. Google Cloud said it will provide data center capacity and operations, networking, and access to the Google Cloud Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). Alternative asset manager Blackstone plans to kickstart the new business with a $5 billion investment that will add 500 MW of capacity in 2027. “This joint venture with Blackstone helps meet growing demand for TPUs, which are optimized specifically for efficiency and performance in the AI era,” says Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “Together, we’re accelerating AI transformation and providing more options for organizations to access accelerated compute capability.” The new company will be led by CEO Benjamin Treynor Sloss, a Google executive with over two decades of experience building and operating Google’s global infrastructure and operations. This joint venture aims to meet the growing demand for AI computing, leveraging Google’s AI expertise and Blackstone’s infrastructure experience. Strategically, this gives Google a way to expand TPU adoption beyond its own cloud footprint while reducing dependence on NVIDIA-centric ecosystems, and it gives Blackstone direct exposure to the fastest-growing segment of digital infrastructure: AI compute capacity. The appointment of longtime Google infrastructure executive Benjamin Treynor Sloss also suggests this is intended to operate more like a specialized AI utility platform than a traditional colocation or neocloud provider. More broadly, this reflects the industry shift toward purpose-built AI infrastructure stacks where power, networking, silicon, and cloud software are increasingly bundled into integrated platforms rather than sold separately. This aligns with broader market trends around hyperscale AI infrastructure expansion and the emergence of specialized AI cloud ecosystems.

Webinar: Rise of the Neocloud and Future of AI Infrastructure

Candice Rodriguez — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:26:41 +0000

Webinar: Rise of the Neocloud and Future of AI Infrastructure Thursday May 28, 2026 | 10am PT / 1pm ET Join Structure Research for an update, analysis and discussion about the emerging Neocloud infrastructure services market. We will trace the neocloud sector's short history and draw parallels with first generation cloud and the rise of hyperscale. This session features proprietary marketshare data and projections, along with information about the strategic landscape and the challenges around land, energy and data centre infrastructure procurement. We also discuss how neoclouds can interact and collaborate more effectively though information sharing, education, strategy development and in-person networking. REGISTER HERE!

Red Hat targets sovereign AI cloud market with new private cloud push

Stephen Mayhew — Fri, 22 May 2026 08:30:46 +0000

Red Hat announced expanded capabilities for sovereign and private clouds, empowering organizations with greater data and technology control. New features include simplified compliance, production-ready landing zones, and rapid deployment of AI and cloud services. Building on-premises telemetry for data sovereignty and localized software delivery for regional resilience, Red Hat are rolling out a series of new offerings first coming to Europe. “Innovation should not be a trade-off for control. Whether an organization is meeting jurisdictional mandates or reclaiming its data from proprietary silos, we are providing the capabilities and platforms to build a more self-determined future,” says Ashesh Badani, senior vice president and chief product officer, Red Hat. “Red Hat is focused on helping the organizations that use these technologies to drive the next decade of AI and cloud innovation on their own terms.” Strategic collaborations focus on validated platform ecosystems to facilitate sovereign AI clouds, leveraging the combined technological strengths of NVIDIA, Google, and IBM. Red Hat platforms (OpenShift, Enterprise Linux, Ansible Automation Platform, AI) are powering things when people build and scale in their own fences. Red Hat is effectively trying to become the “neutral orchestration layer” for sovereign AI clouds, especially in Europe where digital sovereignty regulations are accelerating demand. From a digital infrastructure perspective, this strengthens the trend toward hybrid AI infrastructure, edge AI deployment, localized data processing, and operator-controlled cloud environments. All themes gaining momentum across the edge and AI ecosystem.

Iceotope raises $26M to tackle AI infrastructure’s thermal and power density bottleneck

Stephen Mayhew — Thu, 21 May 2026 10:00:48 +0000

Iceotope, a provider of liquid cooling solutions, raised $26 million in a Series B funding round. Proceeds will be utilized to advance product development, broadening of the patent portfolio, and accelerate partnerships. The round, one of the largest ever for cooling technologies, was co-led by Two Seas Capital and Barclays Climate Ventures to reinforce interest in climate-smart solutions. "Securing such high-caliber investors validates both our technology and our market timing," says Simon Jesenko, CEO and CFO of Iceotope. "We've spent years developing a robust, differentiated IP portfolio and products purpose-built for AI infrastructure, and we’re ready to scale at precisely the moment the industry demands more advanced, sustainable cooling technology. The opportunity ahead – both directly with customers and through our partner ecosystem is significant." Iceotope has technology that solves the thermal challenges resulting from ever-more naturally power-dense next-generation HPC and AI infrastructure. The market for liquid-cooled AI accelerators will see a significant increase as traditional cooling methods have its limitations. Iceotope’s focus on precision liquid cooling aligns with broader industry concerns around power efficiency, sustainability, and operational scalability as hyperscalers, neoclouds, and enterprise AI operators confront rising energy and water constraints. The size of the round particularly with backing from climate-focused investors also reflects growing confidence that cooling vendors with differentiated IP and ecosystem partnerships could become essential enablers of the AI infrastructure buildout now underway across cloud, edge, and HPC environments. This trend mirrors broader market dynamics where AI infrastructure success is increasingly tied to overcoming power, density, and efficiency bottlenecks rather than compute alone.

IREN lands $3.4B NVIDIA AI cloud deal as neocloud battle intensifies

Stephen Mayhew — Wed, 20 May 2026 10:00:22 +0000

IREN, a vertically integrated AI cloud provider has signed a five-year AI infrastructure cloud services contract with NVIDIA. The contract is valued at approximately $3.4 billion and IREN will provide NVIDIA with managed GPU cloud services for AI and research workloads, including orchestration and cluster management software in collaboration with Mirantis. The services will utilize air-cooled Blackwell platform systems to be deployed within approximately 60MW at IREN's Childress, Texas data centers. IREN recently announced its plan to acquire Mirantis in a bid to strengthen its AI cloud delivery capabilities. “We are excited to further strengthen our partnership with NVIDIA through this agreement,” says Daniel Roberts, co-founder & co-CEO of IREN. “This contract demonstrates our ability to deliver fully managed cloud solutions, not just bare metal, to a broad and growing customer base.” IREN is leveraging its vertically integrated power and infrastructure footprint to move up the stack into higher-margin AI cloud services, a broader industry trend as GPU infrastructure providers compete with hyperscalers for enterprise and research AI workloads. The inclusion of Mirantis also reinforces the growing importance of software orchestration and cluster management as differentiators in AI infrastructure delivery. Overall, this announcement signals continued maturation of the AI infrastructure ecosystem and further blurring of lines between hyperscalers, neoclouds, and next-generation GPU infrastructure operators. This aligns with broader market trends around AI-driven infrastructure expansion, cloud ecosystem evolution, and the rise of GPU-oriented neocloud providers.

Australian neocloud Sharon AI secures $950M AI infrastructure deal amid sovereign AI boom

Stephen Mayhew — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:29:02 +0000

Sharon AI, an Australian neocloud company, announced a five-year cloud computing infrastructure agreement. The deal is worth approximately US$950 million with a global technology company that has significant Asia-Pacific presence. Sharon AI will achieve cloud solution deployment in Australia at NEXTDC data centers, returning revenue starting late 2026. “We are thrilled to continue to expand our AI Cloud business, building and deploying the latest cloud computing infrastructure in Australia with NEXTDC and Vast Data,” says James Manning, co-founder and CEO, Sharon AI. “This contract follows on from our previously announced agreements in the region, and our customer pipeline continues to grow. We continue to see strong demand across enterprise, hyperscale, research and AI native sectors throughout Australia and Asia-Pacific.” The solutions will employ the Vast Data AI Operating System as a new way for organizations to more efficiently run their workloads. The announcement highlights how emerging GPU cloud providers are positioning themselves as localized alternatives to hyperscalers by deploying sovereign AI infrastructure close to enterprise and research demand, particularly in Asia-Pacific. Sharon AI’s alignment with NEXTDC and VAST Data also reflects a broader market trend where AI-native infrastructure stacks combining colocation, accelerated compute, and AI-optimized storage software are becoming tightly integrated solutions. Strategically, the deal underscores growing enterprise appetite for dedicated AI cloud capacity in Australia amid concerns around data sovereignty, latency, and GPU availability, while reinforcing the rise of neoclouds as an increasingly important layer in the evolving AI infrastructure ecosystem. This aligns with broader industry trends around AI-driven infrastructure expansion and the emergence of neocloud providers as a distinct market category. Sharon AI and Cisco jointly with NVIDIA, recently opened Australia’s first Cisco Secure AI Factory for secure, high-performance AI infrastructure.