Billion-dollar capital seeks new opportunities in data centre real estate

Billion-dollar capital seeks new opportunities in data centre real estate

HCM City is witnessing a strong investment wave in the data centre sector. The city has set up a dedicated task force to support investment procedures for a Hyperscale Data Centre serving AI development, with total investment estimated at around US$2 billion.

Investor confidence is expected to continue strengthening as AI and cloud computing provide solid structural support for long-term growth. — VNA/VNS Photo

Việt Nam, particularly HCM City, is emerging as a new destination for billion-dollar capital flows into data centre real estate, driven by rapid AI adoption and a growing push for digital infrastructure.

Few months after Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corporation, Accelerated Infrastructure Capital (AIC) and VietinBank announced a 2-billion-USD partnership to develop an AI-enabled data centre complex, the HCM City People’s Committee swiftly established an inter-agency task force to accelerate project implementation, remove procedural bottlenecks and support investors in completing regulatory requirements.

The project will be developed on a 10-ha land plot at Tân Phú Trung Industrial Park, a strategically located area with strong advantages in power supply, telecommunications and logistics connectivity.

These conditions meet international standards for hyperscale and neocloud data centres.

Beyond this project, HCM City is witnessing a strong investment wave in the data centre sector. The city has set up a dedicated task force to support investment procedures for a Hyperscale Data Centre serving AI development, with total investment estimated at around US$2 billion. The investor consortium includes UAE-based technology company G42, Microsoft, FPT Corporation, VinaCapital, and Việt Thái Group.

Earlier, in April last year, Viettel Group broke ground on a high-tech data centre and research and development complex at Tân Phú Trung Industrial Park. Built on nearly four hectares, the project is designed with a total power capacity of up to 140 MW and approximately 10,000 racks, operating to Uptime Tier III standards. The maximum rack density reaches 60 kW, catering to large-scale AI and high-performance computing workloads.

Similarly, CMC Technology Group has received approval to invest in a hyperscale data centre project at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, with total investment capital of VNĐ6.26 trillion (over $238.25 million). Covering more than 30,000 sq.m, the project will house 3,000 racks with an IT load capacity of 30 MW, developed in four phases from 2026 to 2030. Phase I is scheduled to start construction in the second quarter of this year and commence operations in the second quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, Evolution Data Centres is preparing to roll out a hyperscale data centre campus project at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, with committed investment capital of $500 million.

According to CBRE Vietnam, the surge in AI adoption and growing demand for cloud computing services are driving strong investment into hyperscale data centres and colocation facilities. This trend has drawn particular interest from real estate investors seeking exposure to a fast-growing market segment.

CBRE’s Asia-Pacific Investor Intentions Survey 2025 shows that data centres have risen to second place among preferred alternative asset classes this year, underscoring the sector’s increasing appeal.

Investor confidence is expected to continue strengthening as AI and cloud computing provide solid structural support for long-term growth.

Globally, the data centre industry is entering an unprecedented expansion phase. According to JLL’s Global Data Centre Outlook 2026, total operational capacity is projected to nearly double from 103 GW to 200 GW by 2030.

AI is rapidly reshaping capital allocation, with JLL forecasting that AI-related workloads could account for up to 50 per cent of total data centre capacity by 2030. Despite this strong growth, the sector’s fundamentals remain stable, with no signs of speculation or asset bubbles in real estate performance indicators.

JLL estimates that the global data centre market will require around $3 trillion in total investment over the next five years. Of this, approximately $1.2 trillion is expected to create new real estate asset value, while $870 billion will be raised through new capital structures, marking an unprecedented infrastructure investment supercycle.

In Việt Nam, total operational capacity currently stands at around 104 MW, roughly one-tenth of the scale of leading markets such as China. However, this modest base does not fully reflect Việt Nam’s future potential. HCM City is widely expected to emerge as a key growth hub, particularly with multiple large-scale projects already underway or in preparation.

According to Country Head of JLL Vietnam Trang Lê, Việt Nam is increasingly drawing the attention of international data centre investors thanks to its strong growth prospects. While the market remains smaller than those of some regional peers, the combination of strategic power planning, diversified renewable energy sources and rising digitalisation demand from domestic enterprises provides a solid foundation for expansion.

CBRE also notes that Việt Nam’s data centre market is growing rapidly, driven by strong digital transformation, high internet penetration and proactive government support for digital infrastructure development. Although still considered an emerging market, Việt Nam enjoys a key competitive advantage: low construction costs, averaging around $7 per Watt, among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region. This cost advantage is expected to play a crucial role in attracting additional investment amid intensifying regional competition. 

Bizhub