Build-out, Construction & Engineering

Crusoe announced the initial closing of its anticipated $3.9 billion Series F funding round at a $30.9 billion post-money valuation. The oversubscribed round was co-led by Atreides Management, Mubadala Capital, and Valor Equity Partners, with backing from new and existing investors including Founders Fund, GIC, NVIDIA, Qatar Investment Authority, Radical Ventures, and TPG. The company said the capital will help it scale existing programs and build out its own AI factories, from large-scale vertically-integrated campuses to modular Crusoe Spark units, fueling growth of Crusoe Cloud. Crusoe reported over $140 billion in total contracted value across its vertically-integrated platform and more than 6 GW of gross contracted capacity across data centers and cloud, including 1 GW of gross capacity delivered and operational today. The company also cited 20x-plus year-over-year growth in Crusoe Cloud bookings year to date and over $100 million in contracted ARR for Crusoe Managed Inference, launched late last year.

BlackRock and its AI Infrastructure Partnership signed an agreement in August with North America's Building Trades Unions to give unions visibility into the coming project pipeline and to train and deploy the workforce needed to build it, with more than 3 million skilled craft professionals represented across the U.S. and Canada. BlackRock expects the expansion of data centers, power generation and related infrastructure to create hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs, and its separate $100 million Future Builders initiative aims to reach 50,000 workers over five years. For traveling union members, pension contributions made while working outside a home local may stay with the jobsite fund or return home through reciprocal arrangements such as money-follows-the-man, while pro-rata reciprocity can combine service earned under multiple participating funds for eligibility or vesting purposes, with each fund responsible for its share. Social Security instead keeps a single lifetime earnings record regardless of the states worked, using the highest 35 years of indexed earnings, though the Social Security Administration ordinarily limits corrections to an earnings record after three years, three months and 15 days, with important exceptions. The company said workers should confirm how reciprocity works before taking an out-of-area job, keep records from every fund and local, and check their Social Security earnings record against W-2s from every state worked.

The United Arab Emirates is reviewing its strategy for a 5-gigawatt AI data center project, an infrastructure undertaking valued at 1 billion dollars, after conflict with Iran spilled over and undermined security stability in the Persian Gulf region. The project, designed to be centralized on a 26-square-kilometer site in Abu Dhabi and intended as one of the largest technology infrastructure projects outside the United States, must urgently shift from centralization to risk diversification. The UAE government and major capital groups such as G42 are driving this strategic adjustment. Key triggers include attacks on Amazon Web Services cloud and data center infrastructure earlier this year, as well as Iran's military revealing coordinates and warning that the Stargate UAE project could become a strategic target. New protective measures under consideration include distributing data centers across multiple locations nationwide, embedding some structures underground, using natural mountain interiors, installing air defense systems and electronic jamming systems, and employing special reinforced-concrete construction materials resistant to explosive force. Meanwhile, the first phase of the project, Stargate UAE, valued at 30 billion dollars, continues under cooperation with partners from the United States, in order to preserve an advantage in accessing Nvidia's advanced AI chip technology in exchange for reducing technology ties with other major powers under global strategic conditions.

Bell Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding to expand Bell AI Fabric in Saskatchewan with the phased development of up to 900 megawatts of additional capacity, creating a path to a 1.2 gigawatt Canadian AI infrastructure hub in the province. The full buildout is expected to represent the largest capital investment in Saskatchewan's history, with total capital investment including data centre infrastructure, tenant compute and related power generation potentially exceeding $50 billion. The additional capacity would come from partner-developed natural gas power generation, and the proposed facilities would use closed-loop cooling technology requiring no municipal water, with development proceeding in phases as customer commitments are secured and subject to commercial agreements, permits, approvals and environmental assessments. The project is expected to support 800 to 1,200 construction, engineering and technical jobs, create up to 600 permanent operations and management roles, and potentially generate as many as 3,000 additional offsite and community jobs. As part of the expanded partnership, Bell AI Fabric will establish a head office of its national ecosystem in Saskatchewan, placing the province at the heart of Canada's AI economy.

Buildots announced a $130 million funding round led by O.G. Venture Partners, bringing its total capital raised to $297 million. The round included participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Mohari Ventures, Human Capital, Qumra Capital, Avigdor Willenz, Viola Growth and Poalim Equity. The Tel Aviv-based company said the funding extends a multi-year streak of 3x annual revenue growth and will scale deployments of its AI construction platform across the global data center buildout. Buildots is currently deployed by more than 100 large-scale firms, including owners Digital Realty and Intel, hyperscalers, and contractors STO Building Group, JE Dunn, Mortenson, Bouygues and HOCHTIEF. The company said seven-figure, portfolio-wide, multi-year agreements are now the norm rather than the exception, and the round adds two new investors to its cap table: Human Capital and Mohari Ventures.

Aramark Nexus has been selected as the hospitality partner for a leading workforce housing provider, Aramark announced. The engagement covers hospitality services for a workforce community of up to 4,000 specialized trade professionals at a new AI data center site in Texas, with expectations of future opportunities. Aramark Nexus will deliver elevated culinary experiences, hotel-like amenities, wellness and fitness centers, convenience retail stores, and resort style entertainment designed to attract and retain skilled trade professionals. Pat Liebler, President and CEO of Aramark Nexus, said securing workforce housing and onsite hospitality services is a crucial step in getting building underway quickly. The company said the deal marks a continued expansion for Aramark Nexus in industries where speed, scale, and service quality are decisive factors in project success.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Target Hospitality to $25 from $22, reiterating an overweight rating, citing an accretive contract win in the lodging services provider's West Texas home territory. The new target reflects 8 times Morgan Stanley's fiscal year 2027 adjusted EBITDA estimate of $319 million, up from $287 million previously and 22% above the consensus of $261 million. The revision follows the company's late-August announcement of a 1,100-bed contract with a new customer, which arose after a data center accelerated construction ahead of schedule and the developer needed to house workers immediately. Morgan Stanley now models total revenue of $121 million for the third quarter of 2026, $438 million for full-year 2026 and $843 million for full-year 2027, up from prior estimates of $117 million, $418 million and $778 million, with adjusted EBITDA estimates for those periods of $30 million, $111 million and $319 million versus $34 million, $104 million and $287 million previously. The broker assumes 1,400 beds are converted from Target Hospitality's pipeline of more than 20,000 beds into revenue by 2027 at a $150 average daily rate, assumes a Lithium Americas mining contract is renewed beyond its initial term of September 2027, and estimates $30 million in additional run-rate variable revenue exiting 2027 that has been excluded from current guidance.

Solaris Energy Infrastructure raised its adjusted EBITDA guidance for the third and fourth quarters of 2026 and issued initial guidance for the first quarter of 2027, citing stronger contributions from its core power services business and better-than-expected performance from recently acquired businesses. The company now expects third-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $110 million to $130 million, up from a prior range of $90 million to $105 million, a 23% increase at the midpoint. For the fourth quarter of 2026, Solaris lifted guidance to $145 million to $180 million from $100 million to $120 million, a 48% increase at the midpoint, and set initial first-quarter 2027 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $200 million to $240 million. The update follows the company's September 2 announcement that it acquired Omega Foundation Services, a specialist in engineering, procurement and construction with heavy civil construction expertise across end markets including large-scale data centers. The stock has returned about 150% over the past 12 months and was up more than 25% year to date as of September 8, though it trades at roughly 86 times trailing earnings, well above the industry average, while short interest stood at 23.76% of the float as of August 14.

EMCOR Group reported record second-quarter 2026 revenues of $5.15 billion, up 19.8% year over year, with organic growth of 19.6% after excluding acquisitions and adjusting for the sale of its U.K. operations. Data centers drove the gains, as Electrical Construction revenues climbed 24%, Network and Communications revenues rose 45%, and Mechanical Construction revenues rose more than 31%. Remaining performance obligations reached a record $17.14 billion at the end of June, up 44% year over year, 29% from December and 10% sequentially, with 95% of that growth organic. Management raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $20-$20.5 billion from $18.5-$19.25 billion, citing sustained demand, large-scale project wins and strong execution. EMCOR shares have gained 22.3% year to date and carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), with 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates implying year-over-year growth of 27.7% and 12.4%, respectively.

Microsoft is planning to expand its global data-center footprint to more than 38 gigawatts by 2032, up from about 12 gigawatts today, according to a Bloomberg report. That is more than a threefold increase, and the company says it does not have enough computing capacity to meet demand. Server shortages have reportedly forced Microsoft to turn away some cloud and AI customers, and Temu moved a major cloud deal to Oracle after Microsoft could not provide enough capacity in the regions it wanted. The strain has also hit existing services: GitHub suffered an eight-hour outage in August tied to server constraints, and Microsoft has placed limits on Xbox cloud-gaming usage. Microsoft currently has about 2 gigawatts dedicated to AI, and by 2032 AI capacity is expected to represent roughly one-third of the planned 38-gigawatt footprint.

Comfort Systems USA is expanding its Modular business to capture sustained demand from customers building large-scale technology infrastructure, combining higher production capacity with customer commitments to limit the risk of speculative investment. Modular accounted for 17% of revenues in the first six months of 2026, with production capacity surpassing 3.5 million square feet and expected to exceed 4 million square feet by year-end, on the way to about 5 million square feet by late summer 2027. Modular generated $510 million of bookings in the second quarter, adding more than $500 million to backlog after accounting for the strong pace of revenue recognized, and management said customers continue to seek as much Modular capacity as Comfort Systems can produce. The company expects capital expenditures to equal about 5% of 2026 revenues, and management indicated that Modular investments have achieved full paybacks within one to two years, with customer volume commitments including from two hyperscalers helping reduce the risk of adding capacity. Comfort Systems competes with EMCOR Group and Quanta Services across mechanical and electrical construction, mission-critical projects and large-scale infrastructure, and its shares have surged 70.4% year to date, trading at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 29.09, while earnings estimates for 2026 and 2027 have moved upward in the past 30 days to $46.40 and $58.31 per share, implying year-over-year growth of 60.7% and 25.7%.

China is accelerating the construction of data centers in areas far from major metropolises, leveraging cheaper land and energy to expand computing infrastructure for the artificial intelligence economy and strengthen its competitiveness against the United States. One key area is the city of Ulanqab in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located about 215 miles northwest of Beijing and home to fewer than 2 million people. This expansion is part of the East Data, West Computing strategy, which shifts some computing workloads from large coastal cities to sparsely populated western regions with abundant land and renewable energy. BloombergNEF expects that by around 2028, Ulanqab will be among the northern and northwestern Chinese cities with more operational computing equipment than areas around metropolises such as Shanghai and Beijing, and expansion in these areas will help China more than double its data center capacity within the next five years. This approach differs from the United States, where opposition to data centers has become a political issue ahead of this year's midterm elections and some states have effectively halted new project development. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that the United States could face severe consequences if it loses the AI race, while President Donald Trump has said public opposition to data centers could give China an advantage. Stanford University's AI Index shows that 84% of Chinese people are excited about AI technology, the highest among surveyed countries, compared with only 38% in the United States. A key factor is energy costs. In the United States, soaring electricity prices have fueled resentment toward power-hungry data centers, which are seen as competing for limited resources. China faces fewer such constraints because in just the past four years it has built more new power generation capacity than the United States has in total, and household electricity rates in China, which are government-regulated, have barely changed for years. Pushing data centers to western regions also helps address surplus renewable energy, since these areas have abundant cheap solar and wind power. However, this strategy carries risks. If too many western cities rush to build data centers simultaneously, overcapacity could emerge, as has happened in other Chinese industries. Beijing therefore requires large projects to obtain central government approval before construction begins. Meanwhile, the AI competition between China and the United States does not depend on data centers alone but also on chip capabilities, talent, and government regulation.

Data center developers are turning to industrial boilers paired with steam turbines to power AI facilities as gas turbine lead times stretch as far as 2032. Applied Digital, a data center developer and operator, has ordered 1.2 GW of steam turbines fed by gas-fired industrial boilers for a data center under construction in North Dakota, with two more facilities being finalized, and the first scheduled to begin operation late in 2028. Chairman and CEO Wes Cummins said orders for gas turbines placed today might not be delivered until 2032, and the company signed a $2.4 billion design/build agreement for the project in conjunction with independent power producer Base Electron. Rentech Boiler Systems of Abilene, Texas, can manufacture and deliver a packaged boiler within a year of receiving an order, according to Gerardo Lara, the company's vice president of Boiler Sales, who said its models are best suited for steam turbines ranging from 10 MW to 20 MW while modularized designs can accommodate turbines up to 50 MW. GE Vernova has reported more than 100 GW of orders and slot reservations, and suppliers including Siemens Energy, Solar Turbines, and Mitsubishi Power report similar delays. Global Market Insights predicts the steam turbine market will grow by almost three times between 2025 and 2034, with the industrial boiler market expected to follow a similar trajectory.

Google announced Wednesday its largest investment in Europe to date, committing at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) to AI infrastructure in Finland over the next two years. The investment will support data centers and energy infrastructure at four locations in the country, along with grid upgrades and renewable energy projects to meet the power demands of its AI infrastructure. Google called it its largest single investment in Europe and a testament to Finland's leadership in responsibly building AI infrastructure, while Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the decision is a clear testament to the country's strengths. The commitment follows other big tech bets on Finland: TikTok announced a $1.1 billion investment in April, and Microsoft signed a preliminary agreement in June to acquire roughly 190 hectares of land on Finland's western coast for potential data center development. Google also signed an agreement with Finnish utility Fortum to extend the life of a nuclear power plant in Loviisa, a deal that includes a 22-year purchase agreement for up to 50% of the energy from one of Finland's nuclear plants and that Google estimates will keep 10% of Finland's electricity supply online while avoiding price increases for grid users.

Finansia Syrus Securities Public Company Limited, or FSS, has upgraded its recommendation for STECON Group Public Company Limited, or STECON, to "Buy" and raised its normal profit forecasts for 2027 and 2028 by 44% and 40%, respectively. This is due to expectations that the company will secure Hyperscale Data Center projects in the second half of 2026, which will boost its order book and support revenue growth. In its analysis released today, FSS stated that STECON is likely to benefit from continued investment in the Data Center business, and has raised its 2027 target price to 22.50 baht.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C.J. Muse raised his price target on Broadcom to $600 from $525, keeping an Overweight rating, after the chipmaker reported strong earnings and raised its AI revenue guidance. The new target implies about 68% upside from Broadcom's recent price of $357.90. Broadcom raised its fiscal 2027 AI revenue target to $115 billion, up from a prior view of more than $100 billion, and added a first-ever fiscal 2028 AI revenue guide of $230 billion, pointing to total fiscal 2028 revenue near $285 billion. Muse now models 2028 earnings per share of $35, above the $27.39 consensus, and his target reflects about 17 times that estimate. Despite beating expectations, Broadcom's stock fell due to a fourth-quarter revenue guide of about $34.8 billion, slightly under the $35.03 billion Wall Street expected, and a rough stretch in the chip sector. Cantor noted supply constraints through fiscal 2027 in advanced wafers, high-bandwidth memory, and CoWoS packaging, but sees the market treating Broadcom with too much caution given its order backlog.

The Economic and Business Research Center (SCB EIC) revealed that in the first quarter of 2026, the value of Data Center investment promotion applications totaled 1,017 billion baht, an increase from 1,877 billion baht in 2025. This growth is supported by rising demand for data storage space and Thailand's readiness in digital infrastructure, making the country a target for foreign investors seeking a regional hub in ASEAN. This is because Singapore has limitations in expanding Data Centers, while Thailand has favorable investment promotion policies. Benefiting businesses span both the construction phase, such as contractors and electrical systems, and the operational phase, such as energy and utility businesses. However, there are concerns about high electricity and water usage, reliance on imported equipment, and limited direct employment. The government has therefore proposed solutions, such as incentivizing investment distribution outside the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), opening Direct PPA for clean energy, and linking BOI privileges to Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Data Centers with a PUE not exceeding 1.3 will receive higher privileges.

Oracle's improving AI earnings outlook is tempered by persistent free cash flow pressure, as Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the company to $210 from $207 while maintaining an Equal Weight rating. In its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, Oracle reported revenue up 21% year over year, with total cloud revenue jumping 47% to $9.9 billion and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue surging 93% to $5.8 billion. Net income rose to $4.22 billion, or $1.45 per share, from $3.43 billion, or $1.19 per share, a year earlier. However, capital expenditures are set to rise from $21 billion in fiscal 2025 to $55.7 billion in fiscal 2026, and free cash flow fell to negative $23.7 billion despite $32 billion in operating cash flow. For fiscal 2027, Oracle expects capital expenditures of up to $95 billion, with customer repayments covering up to $25 billion of that. Hedge fund ownership increased to 119 funds from 115, with Fisher Asset Management holding roughly 13.3 million shares after a 39% increase.

North American data-center absorption reached 25 gigawatts in the first half of 2026, double the year-earlier level and five times the first half of 2024, according to a Bisnow review of new JLL and CBRE data. More than 66 gigawatts is under construction across the continent, a pipeline JLL says is large enough to more than double existing inventory and represents more electricity demand than all of Germany. Despite the record building, vacancy remains at just 1% in North America and 1.4% in primary markets, a record low, as hyperscalers and AI firms prelease new capacity. Frontier markets now hold 77% of the construction pipeline, up from 64% in the second half of 2025, with Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, and the Carolinas gaining share. Texas could overtake Virginia as the world's largest data-center market by the end of the decade, and Atlanta moved ahead of Northern Virginia for the first time in first-half construction. CBRE expects power availability and infrastructure-delivery speed to remain the main site-selection drivers, with the next boomtowns potentially emerging in the Midwest and Mountain West.

BUUU Group Limited has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 60% equity interest in Brightray Science Inc., a provider of prefabricated modular data center solutions, and concurrently announced over US$60 million in private placements, making industrialized AI data center delivery its core growth business. The purchase consideration includes newly issued BUUU Class A shares valued at US$20.00 per share and a promissory note convertible into up to 10 million shares, with sellers retaining a 40% stake and a call option for BUUU to buy the remainder within three years. Brightray founder Bin Wang will join as Executive Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer, while BUUU plans to relocate its headquarters to Singapore. Brightray's flagship 120MW Sedenak Tech Park campus in Johor, Malaysia, currently operates 70MW, with delivery times compressed to six to nine months versus the conventional 18 to 36 months. The company targets roughly 1GW of deliveries over the next three fiscal years, with a pipeline expected to reach approximately 2GW, representing about US$9 billion in potential contract value across Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the United States. The private placements, along with potential cash exercise of warrants at US$10.00 per share, are expected to generate aggregate gross proceeds exceeding US$60 million to support capacity expansion and working capital.

Construction contractor stocks are supported by strong second-quarter 2026 results, with STECON posting net profit of 910.96 million baht, up 77.89% from 512.08 million baht a year earlier. PYLON reported net profit of 80.15 million baht, up 36.37% from 58.78 million baht. RT had net profit of 25.22 million baht, up 91.77% from 13.15 million baht in the same period last year. TEAMG posted net profit of 60.98 million baht, up 29.32% from 47.16 million baht. These results reflect the gradual recovery in construction activity and revenue recognition from ongoing projects. A key supporting factor is the acceleration of government budget disbursement. The Ministry of Finance revealed that from the start of the fiscal year to August 31, 2026, the government has disbursed 3.39 trillion baht of the annual budget for 2026, representing 89.64% of the total budget of 3.78 trillion baht. Meanwhile, investment trends in data centers and AI are expected to be a major driver, with cumulative applications for investment promotion in digital infrastructure exceeding 1 trillion baht, potentially generating construction and systems work worth about 150 billion baht over the next 2-3 years. STECON is one of the contractors likely to benefit directly, while PYLON will benefit from increased demand for foundation works.

MasTec, Inc. reported record second-quarter 2026 revenues of $4.4 billion, up 23% year over year, with adjusted EBITDA jumping 40% to $384.2 million and adjusted EPS surging 49% to $2.22. The company's 18-month backlog reached a record $21.4 billion, up nearly $5 billion year over year and $1.1 billion sequentially, driven by demand from data centers, power generation, and digital connectivity. The Clean Energy & Infrastructure segment saw revenues soar 43.4% and EBITDA climb 53.9%, with backlog up 58% year over year, while Power Delivery benefited from utility investments in transmission and grid reliability. Pipeline Infrastructure EBITDA nearly doubled, with margins expanding 690 basis points to 18.4%. Management raised its 2026 outlook to $18.2 billion in revenues, $1.6 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $9.30 in adjusted EPS, supported by the July acquisition of Superior, which added about 3,000 employees and expanded capabilities in electrical contracting and data center infrastructure.

Microsoft has confirmed that its Saudi Arabia East datacenter region will become available to customers in November 2026, marking a fresh milestone in its global cloud and AI expansion. The new region, located in the Eastern Province and comprising three Azure availability zones, will enable local government and private-sector organizations to run cloud and AI workloads, with an estimated $44 billion in projected economic activity from Microsoft's cloud technologies flowing to the Saudi economy between 2027 and 2030. This launch extends Microsoft's global Azure footprint to more than 70 regions across 33 countries. The announcement follows Microsoft's fiscal fourth-quarter results, which showed revenues rising 18% year over year to $90 billion, with Azure and other cloud services revenues growing 43% and full-year Azure revenues surpassing $100 billion for the first time. Microsoft Cloud revenues reached $59.3 billion in the quarter, up 27%, and commercial remaining performance obligations climbed 84% to $678 billion. The company added 31 datacenters and roughly one gigawatt of capacity during the quarter, part of a plan to double overall capacity within two years. Capital spending totaled $41 billion for the quarter, with about two-thirds directed toward short-lived assets such as GPUs and CPUs. For 2026, Microsoft's capital expenditure outlook stands at approximately $175 billion, adjusted from an earlier $190 billion figure following an accounting change that extends the useful life of datacenters and office buildings from 15 to 25 years. Management has guided for capital expenditures to grow further in fiscal 2027, citing sustained demand signals across its cloud and AI portfolio. Microsoft's datacenter push mirrors similar moves by Amazon and Alphabet, with Amazon raising its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to roughly $220 billion and Alphabet increasing its outlook to $195-$205 billion. MSFT shares have returned 3.6% year-to-date, and the stock trades at a forward P/E of 24.78X, higher than the industry's 23.13X. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is $19.59 per share, indicating 9.14% year-over-year growth. Microsoft currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Three US-listed companies that keep AI data centers running are reporting surging revenue and backlog as hyperscaler demand accelerates. Comfort Systems USA, which installs HVAC and electrical systems inside data centers, saw Q2 FY2026 revenue rise 50.3% to $3.27 billion and backlog nearly double to a record $14.06 billion. Vertiv Holdings, which makes power and cooling gear for AI servers, reported Q2 net sales up 24% to $3.274 billion and raised its full-year 2026 EPS guidance by 60% to $6.70 at the midpoint. Sterling Infrastructure, which does site development and electrical work for data-center campuses, delivered 90.1% revenue growth to $1.17 billion and a 116% backlog surge to $4.33 billion, with management raising FY2026 guidance to revenue of $4.00-$4.15 billion. All three companies cited intensifying demand from hyperscalers, with Sterling's CEO noting projects are now scoped to last up to 12 years.

PwC forecasts that global data center investment will surge to $31.6 trillion by 2050 to meet growing AI demand, and could reach as high as $50 trillion if AI adoption accelerates faster than expected. The United States will attract nearly half of the total, or about $15.1 trillion, followed by Asia-Pacific at $8.2 trillion, Europe at $5.6 trillion, the Middle East at $1.1 trillion, and Africa at $255 billion. Most investment will go into hardware, such as AI chips from Nvidia and server GPUs, which need to be replaced every 4-6 years, meaning investment is not a one-time cycle. Electricity has become a decisive factor in attracting investment, while community opposition has caused $130 billion worth of projects to be suspended or delayed in the first quarter of this year.

STTGDC announced the completion of its acquisition by a KKR-led consortium comprising funds managed by global investment firm KKR and Singtel, and unveiled a refreshed global brand, marking the start of its next chapter as a global digital infrastructure platform. The transaction strengthens STTGDC's ability to scale AI-ready digital infrastructure, with long-term capital, increased financial flexibility, and the consortium's global infrastructure experience supporting continued growth. Customers will be served by the same leadership team and operating discipline that have underpinned the company's growth for over a decade. Since the end of 2025, operational capacity has increased by 25% to 780MW, contracted capacity has grown by 50%, and annualised EBITDA has risen by 30%. The company has close to 2GW of powered land secured for assets under construction and pipeline development, and in India operates 34 data centres across 10 cities with more than 613MW of IT capacity, while in Indonesia it is advancing a pipeline of over 360MW of AI-ready capacity. In Singapore, STTGDC was selected to develop 50MW of sustainable, AI-ready capacity, and 83.2% of its electricity consumption comes from renewable energy, surpassing its 2028 carbon intensity reduction target three years early.

Amazon's $5.3 billion Saudi Arabia investment is gaining momentum as AWS confirmed its first cloud region in the Kingdom is on track for a December 2026 launch, announced at the LEAP conference in Riyadh. The region will expand AWS Global Infrastructure to 40 regions worldwide and supports a collaboration with HUMAIN, the Public Investment Fund-owned AI company, to deliver up to 50 megawatts of capacity in Saudi Arabia's first dedicated AI Zone by 2028. AWS also reported second-quarter 2026 net sales climbing 37% year over year to a $169 billion annualized run rate, with third-quarter guidance of $197.0 billion to $202.0 billion in net sales and operating income between $22.5 billion and $26.5 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings stands at $13.06 per share, an 82.15% increase from the prior year, though the stock trades at a forward P/E of 22.78X, above the industry's 21.55X. Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

SB Energy, an AI infrastructure company majority-owned by Masayoshi Son's SoftBank, filed a registration statement with the SEC on Tuesday for a proposed IPO on Nasdaq under the ticker SBE, aiming to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion. Nvidia has committed to invest $3 billion in the offering, split between a private placement and a prepaid forward contract, while OpenAI received warrants estimated to be worth $5.5 billion and a board designation right if its stake exceeds 5%. SoftBank and OpenAI are customers at three of SB Energy's data center campuses under long-term leases, with first revenue expected in Q4 this year. The company's contracted data center capacity totals 8.8 gigawatts, with 803 megawatts under construction, and its flagship Ohio campus could require over $6 billion in credit support. J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Mizuho are joint lead book-runners, with retail offering in the UK via Marex Financial.

EMCOR Group has raised its 2026 guidance, citing strong data center demand, record remaining performance obligations, and disciplined execution alongside acquisitions. The company now expects 2026 revenue of US$20.0 billion to US$20.5 billion and diluted EPS of US$32.00 to US$33.25, up from previous forecasts. This guidance hike underscores how data center activity and acquired capabilities are boosting EMCOR's financial outlook, though risks remain from labor cost inflation and integration challenges. The company's long-term narrative projects US$21.5 billion revenue and US$1.6 billion earnings by 2029, implying a fair value of US$983.50 per share, a 33% upside from current levels.

Private equity is following the AI data center boom into the trades that build and equip facilities, with PE activity in construction and engineering hitting a record 529 deals in the second quarter, up 56.5% from a year earlier, according to PitchBook's Q2 Construction and Engineering report. Deal value slipped slightly from the prior quarter as investors prioritized smaller deals over marquee platforms. Data center construction spending rose 46% from a year earlier in June, while stripping out data centers, private nonresidential spending fell 7.9%, per an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of Census data. The dealmaking flurry has concentrated in specialty trades needed for site work, electrification, and cooling, with HVAC contractors logging 76 PE deals worth $3.8 billion in the first half of 2026, already surpassing the 63 deals completed in all of 2025, and electrical contractors recording 38 deals, also topping the 37 completed last year. Contractors working in data centers carry an average backlog of 11 months, versus 8.5 months for everyone else, and industry experts see the build-out as still in its early innings.

A new report from ResearchAndMarkets.com forecasts that the North America data center construction market will grow from USD 85.23 billion in 2025 to USD 158.20 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of 10.86%, driven by AI, cloud computing, and hyperscale campus investments. The report highlights major developments such as Google's USD 15 billion hyperscale data center campus in New Florence, Missouri, announced in May 2026, which includes 500 MW of additional power capacity with Ameren, and Meta's 850 MW solar power purchase agreements with DESRI, expanding its contracted renewable portfolio to over 2.5 GW. Microsoft's Fairwater AI data center in Wisconsin, unveiled in September 2025, is designed to support hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs, while Tract announced three developments in the Austin-San Antonio corridor with up to 5.2 GW of planned capacity. Canada is also gaining prominence, with Synapse Data Center Inc. proposing a 1 GW campus in Olds, Alberta, in January 2026. The report covers facility types, infrastructure segments, cooling techniques, tier standards, and competitive landscape, including key players like AWS, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Equinix, and Digital Realty.

A subsidiary of Yakang Technology has signed a 925 million yuan General Computing Power Technical Service Agreement. At the same time, demand for domestic computing power chips has surged, with delivery schedules now pushed back to a year later. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to July, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide rose 17.6 percent year on year, with profits in the integrated circuit industry jumping 18.5 times. In Guangzhou's Huangpu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, an intelligent computing complex with a total investment of 950 million yuan was recently approved and will serve artificial intelligence companies in areas such as text-to-video generation and code writing. In addition, four government departments launched a special campaign on production consistency and quality improvement for road motor vehicle products, and the Future Industries Conference opened in Chengdu, releasing the first list of pilot zones for Sichuan's future industries.