Microsoft’s $15.2B UAE Bet, IREN’s $9.7B AI Cloud Deal, and New Era’s 7GW Hub
Inside the capital, power, and policy shifts redefining global AI infrastructure.
Welcome to Global Data Center Hub. Join investors, operators, and innovators reading to stay ahead of the latest trends in the data center sector in developed and emerging markets globally.
If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you’ve missed so far:
From Servers to Sovereign AI: A Free 18-Lesson Guide to Mastering the Data Center Industry [An 18-part series that breaks down the fundamentals, economics, geopolitics, and future of the world’s most important infrastructure]
The Rise of Emerging Markets in the Data Center Race [The next wave of AI infrastructure will not be built in Silicon Valley or Frankfurt it will rise in São Paulo, Nairobi, and Johor Bahru.]
10 Reports Defining Global Data Center Strategy (Q3 2025) [A quarterly field guide to the AI supercycle: power, capital, and sustainability as the new strategy stack.]
Interested in sponsorship? info@globaldatacenterhub.com
In This Issue
Global Buildout at a Glance — From Microsoft’s $15.2B UAE commitment and IREN’s $9.7B offtake to New Era’s 7GW hub and KKR-Singtel’s buyout, the global race to secure AI-ready capacity intensified.
Power + Policy = Advantage — Saudi Arabia and the UAE embedded AI infrastructure into national energy strategy, the U.S. advanced firm-power approvals, and Europe expanded green-finance tools making control of megawatts the new industrial edge.
Sovereign Capital Meets AI — Partnerships like HUMAIN–DataVolt in Saudi Arabia and Korea’s sovereign AI build mark the rise of state-backed “compute landlords.”
Notable Transactions — Multi-billion-dollar CapEx programs from Microsoft, NVIDIA, and KKR are reshaping capital flows, while developers in Brazil and Vietnam align land, power, and policy to close the AI gap.
Dear Friends,
A new phase of the AI infrastructure buildout has begun one where gigawatts, not gigabytes, define competitiveness.
In a single week, Microsoft unveiled a $15.2B AI program in the UAE, IREN signed a $9.7B long-term compute offtake, and New Era Energy optioned 3,500 acres in New Mexico for a 7GW AI hub. Across regions, similar moves from KKR’s buyout in Singapore to Vietnam’s $2B AI campus and Saudi Arabia’s multi-GW initiative show that the race is no longer about location; it’s about who can deliver power, policy alignment, and GPUs at scale.
The next decade will reward those who treat digital infrastructure as a sovereign asset class, merging finance, energy, and technology into one operating system.
Member Spotlight
Each week, we highlight members shaping the global data center landscape.
This week: David Grantham, Founder of RedwoodAI in Oklahoma City, is building an Adaptive Resilience Model (ARM) that uses AI to plan sustainable, climate-resilient data centers making community impact measurable and scalable by 2035.
Chart of the Week — Hyperscaler Data Center CAPEX, 2025
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Global Data Center Hub to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.