Investment manager I Squared Capital on Tuesday said that it has bought 10 data centre facilities from Cogent Fiber for $225 million in cash, marking its latest bet on AI infrastructure.
I Squared said it plans to use the assets as a "seed" for a new US data centre operating platform, committing a further $1 billion for upgrades, expansions and acquisitions.
The deal, spanning nine locations, underscores the shift from large, centralised data centres used for model training to those deployed closer to end-users for AI inference.
The distinction between model training and inference reflects the difference between "learning" and "doing."
"Location, power, and connectivity are the three variables that determine a data center's long-term value, and these facilities have all three in markets where new supply is severely constrained," said Gautam Bhandari, co-founder and managing partner at I Squared Capital.
The deal includes about 53 megawatts of power capacity and about 259,000 square feet of colocation space across nine U.S. markets, including Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.
Cogent Fiber is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of internet service provider Cogent Communications Holdings. Shares of the company have shed nearly 16% in 2026.
I Squared Capital invests in and manages digital infrastructure, including data centres.
Last month, the investment manager agreed to acquire a majority stake in Elea, one of the largest carrier-neutral data center platforms in Brazil.
