SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group Inc., a private equity firm focusing on digital infrastructure assets like data centers. Shares of DigitalBridge rose 45% in New York trading to $14.12, with a market value of $2.58 billion. SoftBank is seeking to capitalize on an AI-driven surge in digital infrastructure demand. A potential deal could be reached in the coming weeks.

DigitalBridge, led by CEO Marc Ganzi, manages about $108 billion in assets and operates digital infrastructure companies like AIMS, DataBank, and Switch. Analysts suggest a larger asset manager acquiring DigitalBridge would make sense. SoftBank has a history of deals in asset management, including the acquisition of Fortress Investment Group in 2017.

SoftBank announced a $500 billion project called Stargate to build data centers in the US with partners like OpenAI and Oracle. The rollout of Stargate has faced challenges like market volatility and disagreements over data center locations. Recently, SoftBank announced plans for new sites across Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio with a capacity of 7 gigawatts of power.

To support its AI spending, SoftBank has had to sell a $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia Corp. to free up capital. The push for digital infrastructure expansion reflects the growing demand for computing capacity to support AI applications. The potential acquisition of DigitalBridge is part of SoftBank’s strategy to capitalize on this trend.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: SoftBank in Talks to Buy Data-Center Investor DigitalBridge