Few competitors are outpacing QTS Data Centres, the rapidly expanding operator owned by investment behemoth Blackstone, in the race to construct the digital backbone of artificial intelligence.
According to an investor offering sheet obtained by DealBook, Blackstone is finalising a $3.46 billion commercial-mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) offering to refinance QTS's existing debt as part of its latest attempt to finance the expansion of its data centre empire.
The deal, which is anticipated to close soon, would be the biggest CMBS transaction of 2025 and would demonstrate Wall Street's growing reliance on structured finance to finance the AI boom. Ten hyperscale data centres spread across six US markets, including Norfolk, Virginia, Dallas, and Atlanta, will back the bonds.
The enormous energy demands of the contemporary AI economy are highlighted by the fact that these facilities collectively consume enough electricity to run Burlington, Vermont, for five years.
One of the largest companies in AI infrastructure, QTS was purchased by Blackstone in 2021 for $10 billion in a take-private transaction. It now leases power and space to tech companies vying to establish massive computing clusters.
An unprecedented boom in data centre construction is being driven by the exponentially increased data processing capacity needed by generative AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini as they become more complex.
The financing decision was made in response to the enormous capital needs of the global data centre market. According to McKinsey & Company, in order to meet anticipated demand, $7 trillion in investment will be required by 2030.
Together, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon spent $112 billion on capital expenditures in the third quarter of 2025 alone, with a large portion of that money going towards infrastructure that is ready for artificial intelligence.
Blackstone's entry into data centre financing backed by CMBS can serve as a model for other investors looking for liquidity in a crowded market. The company is essentially turning data infrastructure into a new class of real estate-backed assets by securitizing long-term leases and energy-intensive facilities.
The AI arms race is heating up, and the money behind it is getting creative too. Blackstone's recent $3.46 billion investment proves this trend isn't slowing down.