Blackstone still optimistic about AI data centers despite Deepseek

The start-up of Chinese AI in depth has turned the dominant opinion that artificial intelligence systems require enormous amounts of power and investment. But Blackstone, the giant of investment capital and a major global investor in data centers that manage AI systems, remain optimistic.

“We always think that there is a vital need for physical infrastructure, data centers and power,” said Jonathan Gray, president of Blackstone, during a call for results in the fourth quarter with investors on Thursday. “The form of this use may change.”

Gray said that, like a large part of the world of investments and businesses, the leaders of Blackstone spent a lot of time during last week weighing the impact of Deepseek.

In recent years, Blackstone has made an aggressive push in the purchase and construction of data centers, the physical infrastructure used by technological companies to manage AI systems. In 2021, he bought the American company from the QTS data center for $ 10 billion, and last year, he conveyed about $ 16 billion to buy Airtrunk, which operates data centers in Asia .

Mr. Gray’s comments have echoed the relatively optimistic views of certain technology leaders in recent days, including those of the director general of Microsoft, Satya Nadella. Mr. Gray said he expected the cost of computing power for AI considerably decreased, AI would be more widely adopted. In other words, he said, although the quantity of power necessary for an AI model to answer a specific question decreases, people will ask more questions.

Gray said that Blackstone builds data centers only for technological companies that sign long -term leases. “We don’t build them specifically.” The way customers use these data centers, he noted, could very well change.

The Blackstone stock has been racing lately. He exchanged around 40% in the past year, exceeding the main stock market indices. It was down approximately 3% in the midday trade.

Thursday’s call for investors was a passage from the previous ones. In recent calls, the company’s senior executives had taken a few minutes at the start to discuss the importance of AI for the world and the blackstone investments around technology.

In July, for example, the director general of Blackstone, Stephen A. Schwarzman, described the consequences of AI “as deep as what happened in 1880, when Thomas Edison patented the electric bulb”. He cited expectations that the United States would need around $ 1 billion of capital spending over the next five years for new data centers and 1 Billion of additional dollars outside the United States .

“Blackstone is positioning itself as the largest financial investor in AI infrastructure in the world because of our platform, our capital and our expertise,” said Schwartzman at the time.

During Thursday morning call, the leaders of Blackstone did not address AI until they were interviewed on this subject.