Infrastructure investment firm I Squared Capital has acquired a $225 million data center portfolio from Cogent Fiber. The purchase is part of a plan to build an AI inference platform, the companies said.
From fiber optics to AI compute
The deal shifts a batch of data centers from Cogent Fiber, a provider of fiber-optic connectivity, to I Squared Capital, which has been expanding into digital infrastructure. The portfolio's price tag—$225 million—signals the scale of the bet on AI inference, the process of running trained AI models to make predictions or decisions.
AI inference typically requires less computational power than training but demands low latency and high reliability. That makes well-located data centers valuable for running AI applications in real time. I Squared Capital plans to use the acquired assets as the foundation for a dedicated inference platform.
A signal for infrastructure investors
The acquisition is the latest sign that traditional infrastructure investors are chasing the AI boom. Data centers that can handle inference workloads are increasingly seen as a separate asset class from general-purpose colocation or cloud facilities. The move could reshape how data center economics work, potentially driving more specialization in the market.
I Squared Capital isn't the only firm piling in. Other infrastructure funds have been buying or building sites optimized for AI workloads. The difference here is the focus on inference rather than training, which is more commonly associated with massive GPU clusters. Inference centers can be smaller and distributed, which may change the geographic spread of demand.
What Cogent Fiber gets out of the deal
For Cogent Fiber, selling a portfolio of data centers allows it to raise capital and focus on its core fiber business. The company didn't say whether it plans to reinvest the proceeds or pay down debt. The sale also removes a set of assets that may have required ongoing investment to keep pace with AI demands.
Neither firm disclosed a timeline for the AI inference platform's launch. I Squared Capital said the acquisition gives it a ready-made footprint to start building, but offered no details on when services might become available.
