Warren Probes Major Private Equity Firms on Investments in Data Centers as Utility Costs Rise

Warren Probes Major Private Equity Firms on Investments in Data Centers as Utility Costs Rise

"As data centers contribute to rising utility costs and environmental degradation, and as AI companies continue to take on extensive debt to finance their operations, private equity's increased footprint in the data center industry threatens to make existing problems even worse."

Letter to KKR & Co | Letter to BlackRock | Letter to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners | Letter to Blackstone

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent letters to KKR & Co, BlackRock, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, and Blackstone probing the firms on their increased involvement in data center developments and operations as rising utility prices continue to put pressure on American families.

"Private equity investment into data centers rose to $45.70 billion in 2025, a five-year record high, and private equity funding is predicted to account for $350 billion of data center financing by 2028," wrote Ranking Member Warren.

Ranking Member Warren described how the private equity-funded data center buildout is jacking up utility costs for Americans: "A 2026 study found that U.S. electricity use attributed to data centers rose from 1.9% to 4.4% between 2018 and 2023. The same study estimates that the national average of electricity costs could increase between 6% and 29% by 2030, with some states like Virginia potentially experiencing a cost spike of up to 57%, 'primarily tied to data center expansion.'"

In her letter to each firm, Ranking Member Warren outlined their significant investments into data centers:

• "One of the largest investments include Kohlberg Kravis Robers' (KKR) and Global Infrastructure Partners' (GIP) $15 billion acquisition of CyrusOne. CyrusOne manages 50 data center facilities and 800 clients across North America, Europe, and Asia."
• "GIP is a private equity firm specializing in energy infrastructure acquisitions, and began operating as a subsidiary in 2024 after BlackRock's $12.5 billion acquisition of the company, making it 'the private equity firm with the most gas-fired power plants in its portfolio' at the time of the deal."
• "In 2024, Brookfield merged two data center colocation portfolio companies, Cyxtera and Evoque, and created a new company, Centersquare. This $775 million deal resulted in Centersquare '(controlling) 320MW of capacity across 50 data center locations.'"
• "In 2021, Blackstone took ownership of QTS-one of the three largest data center providers in the country-for at least $10 billion."

Ranking Member Warren requested that the companies provide detailed information about their investments and ownership of companies in the data center supply chain, documentation of their efforts to mitigate risks that accompany owning data centers, and an explanation of how they ensure that the American people are not exploited by these investments by June 27.

###

• Print
• Email
• Tweet