The chief executive of AirTrunk, the data centre operator valued at some $14 billion, has revealed he dipped into his own retirement savings and considered calling in insolvency experts before landing financing that turned the company into a major success.

Robin Khuda, 44, came to Australia from Bangladesh when he was 18. He told The Australian Financial Review Business Summit’s annual dinner that he had seen an opportunity for the data centre business in the early 2010s.