April 1 (Reuters) – Data center developer Related Digital is closing in on $16 billion of financing for an Oracle data center in Michigan, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
* OpenAI, Oracle and Related Digital in October announcedthat they are building a data center campus of more than 1gigawatt in Saline Township, Michigan, as part of their Stargatepush to expand U.S. AI infrastructure capacity. * Big Tech companies have been pouring billions intobuilding AI infrastructure, driven by the pursuit of technologycapable of matching or surpassing human intelligence. * Full construction in Saline Township commenced in Februaryand financing is expected to be finalized shortly, RelatedDigital said in a statement. * “We are proud of the rapid progress that’s been made bothin financing and developing our data center in Saline Township,Michigan,” an Oracle spokesperson said in a statement. * Oracle has hit a major milestone with the verticalconstruction of the campus now underway, the spokesperson said,adding that the effort is moving forward on time and accordingto plan. * Blackstone’s equity contribution is projected to be nearly$2 billion, amounting to about half of what was initially underconsideration, according to Bloomberg News, which reported thedevelopment earlier. * Bank of America is leading an additional $14 billion indebt financing that was originally intended as a constructionloan but is now expected to be structured as a bond offering,Bloomberg News said. * BofA declined to comment, while Blackstone did notimmediately respond when contacted by Reuters.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Maju Samuel and Leroy Leo)