Blackstone-owned AirTrunk secures record $1.24B loan for Tokyo AI data center

A consortium of 12 banks, led by SMBC, MUFG, Crédit Agricole CIB and Société Générale, arranged the record financing for AirTrunk’s Tokyo data center expansion.

Hyperscale data center operator AirTrunk has secured a 191.6 billion Japanese yen ($1.24 billion) green loan to refinance and expand its TOK1 data center campus in the greater Tokyo area, marking what it described as the largest data center financing completed in Japan.

The loan will support the next development phases of the TOK1 campus, which is designed to scale beyond 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity, the company, which is owned by a consortium led by Blackstone and CPP Investments, announced on Tuesday. The expansion is intended to meet rising demand for cloud services and AI infrastructure as Japan ramps up investment in digital computing capacity.

“Japan is one of the world’s most important cloud and AI markets, and we’re committed to building the digital infrastructure that enables its long-term growth,” AirTrunk founder and CEO Robin Khuda said.

AirTrunk has already begun construction to add more than 100 megawatts of IT load at the facility to address near-term demand from cloud and technology customers, per the announcement.

Related: Big Tech signs Trump pledge to cover their own AI energy costs

The financing was arranged by a consortium of banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), MUFG, Crédit Agricole CIB and Société Générale. In total, 12 lenders participated in the deal as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

The financing follows AirTrunk’s recent announcement of a second hyperscale campus in Osaka and plans for a new Japan headquarters. AirTrunk’s total investment in Japan now exceeds $8 billion.

Once fully built out, the company’s four Japanese campuses, including TOK1, TOK2, OSK1 and OSK2, are expected to deliver around 530 MW of combined capacity, making the platform one of the largest hyperscale data center networks in the country.

The loan was issued under AirTrunk’s Green Financing Framework, which requires the company’s facilities to meet strict energy efficiency standards aimed at lowering power consumption and emissions.

Related: Orbital data center company to start mining Bitcoin in space

In 2024, AirTrunk was acquired by a consortium led by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) in a deal valued at over $16 billion, marking the largest data center acquisition globally.

Crypto mining companies have been expanding into AI data center operations. CleanSpark plans to raise about $1.15 billion to expand its Bitcoin (BTC) mining and data center infrastructure, while Core Scientific has secured a $500 million loan from Morgan Stanley, with an option to increase it to $1 billion, to fund data center expansion and related infrastructure.

AI Eye: IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket

Source: CoinTelegraph