July 13 (Reuters) - Data center operator Switch has hired investment banks for an initial public offering that could raise up to $10 billion as soon as the fourth quarter, according to two people familiar with the matter, and value the company at close to $80 billion, including debt.
Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have been tapped as lead underwriters for the offering, the people said. The size, timing and valuation remain under discussion and could still change, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the deliberations are confidential.
Switch operates large-scale data center campuses that provide the power, cooling and connectivity needed to support AI computing, allowing cloud providers and enterprises to deploy energy-intensive GPU clusters used for training and running artificial intelligence models.
Data centers have become critical to the AI infrastructure buildout, as companies race to secure computing capacity needed to train and deploy increasingly powerful models. Investors have also shown interest in companies supporting the broader AI infrastructure ecosystem, with upcoming public offerings such as SoftBank-backed SB Energy’s IPO adding to the pipeline of large technology and infrastructure listings.
The pipeline also includes Brookfield-backed data center provider Csquare, which is targeting a valuation of up to $4.18 billion in its U.S. initial public offering. AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems (CBRS) surged in its market debut in May after the company raised $5.55 billion in its IPO.
Las Vegas-based Switch was taken private by DigitalBridge and IFM Investors for $11 billion in 2022. Australian pension fund Aware Super bought a minority stake from Switch's owners in 2023. The company was founded in 2000 by Chief Executive Rob Roy.
Switch's data centers have been powered by renewable energy since 2016, a feature that may appeal to technology companies with decarbonization targets.
