This Month
AirTrunk eyes AI growth with first $2.5b move of the Blackstone era
The Australian data centre giant has unveiled its first big move since it was acquired by the alternative asset manager in a $24 billion deal last year.
- Paul Smith
- Analysis
- The Breakdown
Google playing catch-up on the hottest AI consumer trend of the year
AI agents can take over consumers’ web browsers to order groceries or book a restaurant for dinner. Google says its assistant is coming later this year.
- Tess Bennett
January
- Updated
- AI
Macquarie hopes for AirTrunk redux with $8b AI data centre bet
The asset management giant will invest in high-performance computing projects across the United States after striking a deal with Nasdaq-listed Applied Digital.
- Updated
- Paul Smith and Timothy Moore
The wall of money heading for data centres has short-sellers excited
High-profile fund manager Jim Chanos says there’s too much exuberance about the sector and developers see only growing demand driven by artificial intelligence.
- Tess Bennett
November 2024
- Analysis
- The Breakdown
Why Amazon was the big tech AI winner this earnings season
Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft were sold off after their artificial intelligence-laden results calls, but the online retailer had a better story to tell.
- Paul Smith
October 2024
David Di Pilla plots AirTrunk-sized data centre play
The dealmaking king has already lined up $4b of data centre assets, but has much bigger plans for alternative asset manager HMC Capital’s new investment push.
- Larry Schlesinger
Big banks fund Macquarie Technology bid to cash in on AirTrunk effect
The funding agreement came as new research showed investment in data centres was expected to hit $26 billion by 2030 amid booming demand from technology giants.
- Paul Smith
AMP eyes February for long-planned expansion into business banking
The company, which already has a major mortgage loan book, will target start-ups and sole traders as it attempts to find higher margins.
- James Eyers
September 2024
CBA explores replacing local call centre staff with AI
The bank has begun testing its Hey CommBank platform, which would significantly expand the use of artificial intelligence in customer interactions.
- Paul Smith
Inside the AirTrunk deal: how to build a $24b business in nine years
This week on The Fin podcast, Paul Smith and Anthony Macdonald on whether Robin Khuda can grow a $100 billion business and what might get in his way.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How Blackstone and AirTrunk plan to build a $100b business
The deal of the year? That’s old news for Robin Khuda, who is already thinking much bigger. It’s music to the ears of his new deep-pocketed backer.
- Updated
- James Thomson
Blackstone clinches data centre giant AirTrunk in deal of the year
The transaction is one of the biggest Australian M&A deals yet and will add to the global investment giant’s fast-growing portfolio of digital infrastructure.
- Updated
- Paul Smith
Inside the high-tech sheds worth $24b to AirTrunk
From a single room holding a hard-working mainframe, data centres have evolved into major pieces of high-powered, high-tech infrastructure.
- Campbell Kwan
AirTrunk’s $23.5b AI pay day
Blackstone emerged as the winning bidder in the year’s biggest merger and acquisition deal, netting its founder Robin Khuda a $1 billion-plus payday.
- Paul Smith and Anthony Macdonald
August 2024
Microsoft’s Telstra deal backs Vicki Brady’s $1.6b infrastructure bet
The technology giant will become the first client of a big intercity fibre network being rolled out after the telco decided not to sell its InfraCo division.
- Paul Smith
Amazon shares drop as AI costs spook market
Like Microsoft earnings earlier in the week, Amazon investors are ignoring profits, and starting to worry about whether big AI investments will ever be recouped.
- Spencer Soper
July 2024
Microsoft reports slower Azure cloud growth; shares drop
Microsoft’s main growth engine in recent years, its Azure cloud-computing service, expanded revenue by 29 per cent against expectations of 31 per cent.
- Dina Bass and Brody Ford
- Analysis
- The Breakdown
Investors aren’t buying Google’s AI future – yet
The search giant’s parent, Alphabet, produced solid earnings, but shareholders are tiring of claims about future magic without answers to important questions.
- Paul Smith
Google’s biggest acquisition falls over as $35b offer rejected
Cybersecurity firm Wiz has turned down a mammoth takeover bid from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sticking with an IPO plan.
- Lynn Doan and Julia Love
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Aussie who sold cloud start-up for $2b jumps on AI for ads
Three years after selling A Cloud Guru in a bumper payday, Sam Kroonenburg is teaming up with advertising entrepreneurs with big plans and investors in tow.
- Paul Smith