In a summer 2025 interview, ex-ceo of Digital Realty Bill Stein expected early, higher-priced capital to recycle and hyperscalers to eventually shed real estate holdings. Stein was also part of the financing consortium, including Blue Owl, behind the first groundbreaking Stargate AI infrastructure project in Abilene, Texas.
Blackstone's new Digital Infrastructure Trust joins Digital Realty and Equinix as the only publicly-traded data center REITs. One of the largest digital infrastructure investors, Blackstone is a first mover in a new market segment: Tier 1 hyperscale-grade data centers. The target niche is stabilized, hyperscale-leased, new-build data centers of 20 to 100 MW, with deal sizes of $250 million to $1.5 billion.
Data center leasing hit 13 GW in 2025, double the prior year, and is projected to be north of 20 GW in 2026. The trust's addressable market is expected to grow roughly fourfold by 2030.
New builds are costing more, and higher interest rates make new financing pricier. That raises the value of existing capacity and creates room for early, higher-priced capital to recycle into new deals.
In a 15-minute video analysis, I mention three emerging AI infrastructure models (short below), per Morgan Stanley analysis, which is also mentioned in the white paper report.
“Tier 1 markets
N. Virginia, Dallas, Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Atlanta, Omaha, Central Washington, Oregon”
Dallas-Fort Worth area
Globally, AI data center IT capacity rose from 18 GW to 30 GW between Q1 and year-end 2025. A jump from about 13.5 GW to 17.6 GW between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 likely reflects new builds like the trust's targets. Even 1 to 2 MW of capacity is being sought after, according to Digital Realty CEO Andy Power, in a last earnings call.
Stein comments in “The New Social Network”
