The deal is intended to seed a broader U.S. data center platform, with an additional planned investment of about $1 billion for upgrades, expansions, and acquisitions.

The facilities are purpose-built, fee-simple owned, and support high-density deployments, including liquid cooling, with diverse fiber connectivity and proximity to internet exchanges.

I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure investor with about $60 billion in assets, announced it is acquiring a majority stake in Elea, a major carrier-neutral data center platform in Brazil, signaling a push into expanding global data center assets.

Company leadership emphasizes that location, power, and connectivity determine long-term value, and notes rising AI inference demand driving demand for high-density, low-latency facilities.

Advisors for the transaction include TVG Consulting Group as commercial/market advisor, Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal counsel, and FTI Consulting serving as carve-out/stand-up advisor.

The seed portfolio encompasses roughly 53 megawatts of installed power and about 259,000 square feet of colocation space across nine markets, including Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Houston.

The nine-market platform is strategically chosen in regions with constrained new supply, positioning it to capitalize on rising AI inference demand as workloads move closer to users.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, including Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and waiting periods.

The transaction reflects a strategic shift from large centralized AI training centers toward smaller, localized facilities optimized for AI inference.

A standalone operating platform will be created at closing to own, operate, and grow the business, with an experienced management team in place from day one.

As part of the initiative, I Squared Capital announced the acquisition of ten data center facilities from Cogent Fiber for $225 million in cash to seed a new U.S. data center platform focused on colocation and AI inference infrastructure.

The nine markets collectively serve over 63 million people and are positioned to support retail and wholesale colocation, content delivery, and latency-sensitive AI inference workloads.