Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Adds to Data Center Bets With Yondr Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Mubadala Investment Company is investing in London-based data center developer Yondr Group, marking the Abu Dhabi wealth fund’s latest foray into a sector that’s 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 MW. Mubadala didn’t disclose further terms of the transaction.

Data center operators have drawn interest from infrastructure funds with large pools of capital. More than $20 billion has been invested in the sector this year, reflecting the critical role these facilities play in supporting the expanding digital economy.

Global cumulative data center demand is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11% by 2032, Mubadala said in a statement. The fund has already inked a string of deals in the sector, including investments in US-based Aligned Data Centers and Singapore’s Princeton Digital Group.

Regionally, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia want to become hubs for AI as part of their efforts to diversify away from oil. That’s kicked off a race to build expensive data centers to support the technology.