Billions flow into datacenter sector M&A despite near-term market headwinds, signaling continued confidence in long-term AI compute demand.

Despite the controversies surrounding data centers—prompting municipalities to impose moratoriums on their development—significant capital continues flowing into the sector. KKR has launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a developer and operator for the property type, which kicked off with more than $10 billion in capital commitments. The company counts Nvidia and Kuwait's sovereign wealth funds among its partners. Former Amazon Web Services Chief Executive Officer Adam Selipsky is leading the business, while Nvidia will support chip deployment and Texas-based Vistra will serve as the preferred power provider. Helix aims to be a one-stop shop for hyperscalers' data centers, power needs, and connectivity, and remains open to additional institutional investment.

Japan-based NTT's data center arm is also pursuing growth, reportedly seeking at least $1 billion to fund projects in the United States. Citigroup is helping NTT Global Data Centers raise the money through stake sales in a development company. A formal sales process is expected to begin in the coming weeks as NTT sends marketing materials to prospective investors, including pensions and infrastructure funds. NTT Global Data Centers and Citigroup declined to comment on the matter.

Data centers remain controversial due to their status as massive power users, often blamed for driving up electricity bills. Opponents also accuse the sector of consuming large amounts of water and causing environmental harm. Towns are attempting to attract data centers for the property taxes they generate, yet many municipalities are trying to block their arrival through moratoriums—New York legislators recently passed a one-year moratorium on data center development.