Private equity firm Brookfield has announced it will independently launch a cloud computing business, directly competing with tech giants like Amazon. The company claims its cloud services can effectively reduce the development costs of artificial intelligence (AI). With a long-standing focus on infrastructure and energy investments, Brookfield is set to become the first major investment firm to attempt leasing data center chips directly to developers, breaking away from its traditional business model of merely owning or developing the physical buildings of data centers. This cloud computing initiative will be deeply integrated with the company's newly established $10 billion AI-focused fund and its upcoming cloud computing subsidiary, Radiant. As early as November this year, Brookfield had unveiled an ambitious plan to invest $100 billion in acquiring land, data centers, and power assets dedicated to the AI sector. Sikander Rashid, Brookfield's Global Head of AI Infrastructure, stated that the company aims to attract government and corporate clients who prefer to store their data locally. He explained, "We want to build and operate these computing clusters ourselves, rather than relying on five different partners across five different markets." Here, "computing clusters" is the industry term for groups of servers. According to informed sources, the specialized fund is advancing data center projects in France, Qatar, and Sweden. Brookfield will prioritize leasing all data centers developed by the fund to its subsidiary Radiant, while also maintaining the option to lease space to external cloud service providers using the traditional model. This move signifies Brookfield's formal entry into the cloud computing market, pitting it against industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, as well as rapidly emerging AI cloud computing firms such as CoreWeave and Nebius. Previously, most of Brookfield's peers had adopted a wait-and-see approach towards operating AI cloud services—a business requiring massive investments in AI chips. However, there are exceptions; for instance, Blackstone provided loans to cloud computing newcomer CoreWeave to help it procure server equipment. Brookfield is already one of the world's largest holders of land, data centers, and power resources, boasting a leading global portfolio of solar and wind power facilities, and is also the controlling shareholder of nuclear equipment manufacturer Westinghouse Electric. The company is now attempting to leverage its advantages in energy and infrastructure to build core capabilities that meet the demands of AI computing. Brookfield executives anticipate that investment in the AI sector will reach several trillion dollars over the coming years. Chip giant NVIDIA is also supporting Brookfield's cloud computing plans. NVIDIA has not only invested in the Brookfield AI infrastructure fund but is also assisting the company in building large-scale server clusters. Like other investment firms, Brookfield's long-standing business model has been to develop data centers and lease them to external companies, primarily for traditional cloud services like storage and databases. The company initially lagged behind competitors in constructing hyperscale data centers for AI training but is now accelerating its efforts to close the gap. Data4, a company within Brookfield's investment portfolio, is building its AI data centers in France; these facilities are projected to consume a total of 1.5 gigawatts of power by 2030. The AI data center in Sweden is also expected to have a power consumption capacity of 750 megawatts. Additionally, the company is collaborating with the Qatari government to jointly develop AI computing facilities. The advancement of such large-scale infrastructure projects often faces numerous obstacles. Currently, Brookfield is negotiating with Swedish grid operators to secure the power resources needed for the expansion of a data center west of Stockholm. A Swedish government spokesperson stated in June that Brookfield must meet specific conditions for building an AI data center on the plot to secure the land purchase rights. To overcome challenges related to sourcing energy from local grids, Brookfield has made preparatory investments. The company has committed $5 billion to Bloom Energy's fuel cell projects, which will eventually connect to multiple AI data centers, including an unnamed site in Europe. Furthermore, Westinghouse Electric reached an agreement with the U.S. government in October to build nuclear reactors valued at $80 billion; in exchange, the U.S. government could acquire equity in Westinghouse if it goes public in the coming years. Rashid stated that Brookfield sees strong market demand for its AI cloud computing business, particularly from government and corporate clients seeking enhanced data security through local storage. Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, revealed during an earnings call in August that the two companies are collaborating to build a data center in Germany, a project likely to receive EU funding. Rashid emphasized, "We will not engage in speculative capital expenditure; we will not blindly hoard chips and then passively wait for customers to come to us." He indicated that Brookfield plans to reduce the operational costs of its AI cloud services through "innovative business structure design," but did not disclose specific implementation details. Rashid added, "In the future, as technology costs themselves may decrease, combined with our architectural optimizations, this will lay a solid foundation for the widespread adoption of AI technology."
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