Switch's Planned IPO Extends Data Center Sector's Shift To Wall Street
Data center developer and operator Switch is pursuing an initial public offering, adding to a growing wave of digital infrastructure companies tapping public markets.
Las Vegas-based Switch has picked Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to lead the underwriting for an anticipated IPO, expected to launch as soon as the fourth quarter, Reuters reported this week.
The offering could raise as much as $10B, giving Switch a valuation of close to $80B, Reuters reported, placing it among the biggest IPOs in recent years.
Specializing in large-scale data center campuses that serve both hyperscale and large enterprise customers, Switch is considered a trailblazer of the campus development model. Its portfolio includes facilities in Austin, Las Vegas, Reno, Nevada, Atlanta and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Switch says its campuses have been powered entirely by renewable energy since 2016.
Like many major data center providers, Switch has been pursuing rapid expansion of its U.S. footprint. Last month, the company revealed that it had significantly increased its debt facility to $9.5B as it seeks to grow its portfolio and adapt facilities to the needs of artificial intelligence. Switch was also in discussions early this year about a private funding round that would value the company at more than $40B, according to Reuters.
Switch’s planned IPO will not be the first time shares of the company have been publicly listed. Founded by industry stalwart Rob Roy in 2000, Switch debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2017 in one of the year’s largest tech IPOs.
The company was subsequently taken private in 2022 by DigitalBridge and IFM Investors in a deal valued at $11B. Australian pension fund Aware Super then acquired a significant minority stake in the firm in 2023.
Switch’s flight from public markets four years ago mirrored an industrywide trend. As the sector’s growth accelerated in 2021 and 2022, four of the most prominent data center providers exited public markets in the largest flurry of M&A activity the sector had ever seen.
Asset management giant Blackstone acquired QTS Data Centers in a $10B take-private deal in June 2021. Five months later, CoreSite was acquired by American Tower, while CyrusOne sold to KKR and Global Infrastructure partners — a pair of deals that together exceeded $25B.
When the dust settled, by 2023, REITs Digital Realty and Equinix were the only pure data center firms left on public markets. And that has remained the case until this year amid consensus that private capital was better equipped to fund the industry’s rapid expansion.
But now, the pendulum may be swinging back in the other direction.
In recent months, a surge of data center and digital infrastructure companies — as well as AI tech firms — have taken steps toward going public. As the supply of private capital needed to finance data center development is stretched thin, firms are turning back toward the stock market to access growth capital and to allow institutional backers to exit their positions.
Earlier this month, Brookfield-backed colocation provider CSquare announced that it is pursuing an IPO with the goal of raising up to $1.35B. The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down debts incurred in building its portfolio, which extends to 64 sites across 21 markets.
SoftBank-backed SBEnergy — an AI infrastructure developer with a business model centered on pairing data centers and power generation — announced its intention to go public in late May. The company, which is pursuing a 1.2-gigawatt campus in Texas, is reportedly seeking a valuation of more than $50B through the IPO.
A week earlier, Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust debuted on the NYSE. The IPO generated $1.75B for the REIT, which owns a portfolio of stabilized hyperscale facilities.
In February, data center developer and neocloud firm Nscale announce its intention to go public by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, hyperscale development startup Fermi — a company co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry — went public in October 2025 despite having no revenue and no projects underway. While the offering immediately raised $746M, the share price has subsequently crashed amid questions about the firm’s single planned project and a public feud among the firm’s co-founders.
The tech-sector giants driving AI data center demand are also turning toward public markets. SpaceX’s $75B IPO in June was the largest such offering in history, while AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI are also considering public listings. AI cloud firm CoreWeave also went public, listing on the Nasdaq in March 2025.
