A KKR-led consortium is nearing the acquisition of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC). The valuation is above US$10 billion, putting it among Asia’s largest data-centre deals.
🤝 Structure: KKR is buying together with Singtel from Temasek Holdings. GIC and Mubadala are considering joining as co-investors. The consortium is reportedly paying more than S$13 billion for the global data-centre operator.
The details
Strategic lever: STT GDC operates 100+ data centres with 2+ gigawatts of IT capacity across 20+ markets — from Singapore to India and Japan, and into Europe via its VIRTUS brand in the UK, Germany, and Italy.
Timing: KKR owns around 14%, Singtel more than 4% — now the move is toward taking out Temasek’s stake. Talks last November centered on acquiring >80%. Today’s valuation underscores how sharply AI-ready infrastructurehas been repriced.
Private capital takes over AI infrastructure: Sovereigns and strategic owners are monetising mature assets; private equity can scale globally via roll-ups, refinancing, and faster capacity expansion.
And China?
China plans to put AI data centres into orbit over the next five years. The goal is a solar-powered “Space Cloud” with gigawatt-scale computing capacity.
China’s state aerospace contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has outlined plans to build “space digital-intelligence infrastructure” that bundles compute, storage, and data transmission directly in orbit.
Timeline:
First orbital AI infrastructure: within 5 years
Industrial-scale gigawatt “Space Cloud”: by 2030
👉 Full story: Channel News Asia, BusinessTimes SG, Asia Financial
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