Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, is investing in London-based data center developer Yondr Group. This is Mubadala’s latest foray into a sector expected to benefit from booming demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence technology.
The $302 billion wealth fund said its investment will support growth at Yondr, which has contracted and reserved capacity of 878 megawatts. Mubadala didn’t disclose further terms of the transaction.
Yondr, headquartered in London, is a global developer, owner, and operator of hyperscale data centres. The company provides scalable data centre infrastructure for major blue chip technology players and has a contracted and reserved capacity of 878MW, with 58MW currently operational.
In a statement, the sovereign investor said its investment will support Yondr’s ambitious growth strategy, which has been developed in line with the rapid demand growth for hyperscale data centres. Global cumulative data centre demand is expected to grow at an 11 per cent compound annual growth rate by 2032, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), 5G technology and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Mounir Barakat, senior executive director of digital infrastructure at Mubadala Investment Company, said the latest investment marks an exciting addition to Mubadala’s rapidly expanding digital infrastructure portfolio. “We are witnessing a strong growth in demand for hyperscale data centers in response to the rising data demands from AI adoption, 5G and IoT, and Yondr will play a key part in providing solutions for some of the world’s fastest growing corporations. We look forward to working closely with Yondr and our investment partners to develop world-class solutions that create long-term value for their customers and stakeholders.”
Chester Reid, chief financial officer at Yondr, said with Mubadala as a key financial partner, the data centre is well-positioned to accelerate growth and continue delivering sustainable data centre solutions to clients worldwide, meeting the increasing demand for capacity.
The new investment builds on Mubadala’s rapidly growing portfolio of leading global data center assets under its digital infrastructure portfolio. In 2023, Mubadala invested in Aligned Data Centres, a leading pan-Americas data centre company headquartered in the US that provides both Scale Data Centres (colocation) and Build-to-Suit solutions to support global hyperscale and enterprise customers.
In 2022, Mubadala invested in Princeton Digital Group, a leading pan-Asian data center company focused on expanding world-class data center services to meet increasing demand across Asia. Mubadala is also investing in major global fiber network providers such as the UK’s CityFibre and GlobalConnect, a fiber-based data communication and data center service provider to enterprises across Northern Europe.
“Aligned with Mubadala’s responsible investing mandate, Yondr is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This commitment involves reducing emissions across all its data centers through energy-efficient technologies and the use of renewable energy to power its infrastructure,” said the statement.
Mubadala, the second-biggest state fund in Abu Dhabi, behind Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), has built on its role as a global investor through opportunistic capital deployment in North America, Asia and Europe in sectors key to regional growth.
In 2023, Mubadala’s assets under management rose 9.5 per cent Dh1.11 trillion. The wealth fund also reported proceeds of Dh99 billion last year, about 6.6 per cent lower year on year, which it said included “divestments of certain legacy assets and capital recycling into priority investment areas.” The company reported proceeds of Dh106 billion in 2022.