The $10 Billion Data Center Shock: DayOne's Monster Raise Sends Investors Scrambling
DayOne Data Centers, a rapidly growing digital-infrastructure player in Asia, is in advanced talks to raise over $2 billion in a Series C round, potentially valuing the company at $10 billion. The round may be led by existing investors, with new participants expected. DayOne's expansion is driven by increasing AI infrastructure spending. GDS Holdings, owning 35.6% of DayOne, has seen its shares rise 46% in Hong Kong this year. The data center sector is attracting significant capital, with recent major deals highlighting shifting valuations.
DayOne Data Centers is stepping into the spotlight as one of Asia's most aggressively scaling digital-infrastructure players, with the Singapore operator now in advanced talks to raise more than $2 billion in an upsized Series C round that could lift its valuation to about $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Investors following the process say the round could be led by existing backers, while new names may also come in, and discussions could possibly wrap before year-end. DayOne, formerly known as GDS International, has built out a fast-growing hub of data centers across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, supported by additional sites in Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan and Finland, giving the company a platform that could be increasingly relevant as AI infrastructure spending expands across the region.
GDS Holdings , which owns 35.6% of DayOne after earlier fundraising rounds, has been a central player in the company's evolution. Its shareholder base already includes Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Investment, SoftBank (SOBKY) Vision Fund and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin. GDS shares have rallied about 46% in Hong Kong this year, pushing its market value to roughly $6.9 billion, with the company also trading in the US. That momentum has drawn fresh attention to DayOne's strategy, particularly as investors look for operators capable of scaling capacity at the speed required by AI workloads.
The sector has become a global magnet for capital as companies invest in artificial-intelligence infrastructure, and recent deals underscore how valuations are shifting. In September, Bain Capital agreed to sell its China data centers to Shenzhen Dongyangguang Industry in a transaction valued at about $4 billion. A month later, investors led by BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners reached a $40 billion deal to buy Aligned Data Centers. Against that backdrop, DayOne's pursuit of more than $2 billion could be another sign of how quickly the AI build-out is reshaping demand for hyperscale capacity and influencing where global investors choose to place their next major bets.
