Australian superannuation fund Aware Super is extending its exposure to digital infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, committing USD300 million (around AUD 460m) to the Skyline JV data centre business, which indirectly owns Vantage Data Centers APAC. The investment gives Aware Super a minority stake in Vantage’s Asia-Pacific platform, which owns and operates more than 10 hyperscale data centre assets across Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Vantage APAC forms part of Vantage Data Centers’ wider global footprint spanning North America, EMEA and APAC.
The deal builds on Aware Super’s existing relationship with DigitalBridge Group, following the pair’s co-investment in US-based hyperscale operator Switch in 2023. Skyline JV is backed by DigitalBridge, which specialises in digital infrastructure investments globally.
With the transaction, Aware Super said its total allocation to digital infrastructure has now exceeded AUD 6 billion, accounting for more than a quarter of its overall infrastructure portfolio. The AUD 210 billion fund has steadily increased its exposure to fibre networks, data centres and connectivity platforms as it seeks long-term, inflation-linked returns for its 1.2 million members.
Aware Super’s head of infrastructure Mark Hector said digital infrastructure had become a core pillar of the fund’s strategy. “Digital infrastructure is a critical plank of Aware Super’s infrastructure investment strategy,” Hector said. “For a number of years, we have captured the mega-trends of digital infrastructure across geographies, recognising early the transformative potential of fibre networks, data centres, and connectivity platforms.”
Hector said the Vantage investment would give the fund direct exposure to what it sees as one of the fastest-growing data centre markets globally. “This is a compelling opportunity for Aware Super to gain exposure to the digitalisation-driven high-growth APAC data centre market, with the region covering 60 percent of the world’s population and projected to be the strongest growing cloud region,” he said.
Asia underdeveloped
Despite that growth outlook, Hector noted that APAC remains relatively underdeveloped in data centre terms. “Even though the APAC region is forecast to require up to 20GW of data centre capacity by 2030 – driven by hyperscaler cloud deployments and generative AI training workloads – the region remains underrepresented on data centre deployments per capita.”
The capital will be invested through Skyline JV to support Vantage APAC’s development pipeline. According to the Australian Financial Review, the funding is expected to help deliver up to 1GW of additional capacity on land Vantage has already secured across the region, including ongoing expansion in Malaysia’s Cyberjaya data centre hub. Vantage APAC counts hyperscale customers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google among its tenants.
Hector said the transaction also reinforced Aware Super’s hybrid investment model, which combines direct investment with partnerships alongside specialist operators and fund managers. He highlighted DigitalBridge’s sector expertise and Vantage’s management team as key factors underpinning the investment.
DigitalBridge chief strategy officer Kevin Smithen said the firm was “delighted to deepen our partnership with Aware Super in one of the fastest-growing data centre markets globally”. He added that Vantage APAC was “a high-quality platform operating in markets with strong structural demand” as cloud and AI workloads accelerate.
Vantage Data Centers APAC president Jeremy Deutsch, president of , said the business was scaling rapidly to meet customer demand. “Vantage’s APAC business is growing at an unprecedented pace,” he said. “With partners like DigitalBridge and Aware Super, we are well positioned to expand our APAC portfolio to meet AI and cloud demand in markets that matter most to our customers.
Global portfolio
Aware Super has been steadily building a global digital infrastructure portfolio over the past five years. Its holdings include Australian fibre and network operator Vocus, New Zealand telco 2degrees, European bandwidth provider euNetworks, and Switch in the US, which it acquired alongside DigitalBridge following the operator’s take-private in late 2022.
The Switch deal marked Aware Super’s first data centre platform investment and provided exposure to a portfolio of 16 data centres across five campuses, totalling around 500MW of capacity and powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
Together, the Switch and Vantage investments underline Aware Super’s conviction that data centres will remain a cornerstone of global infrastructure as cloud adoption and AI workloads continue to drive demand for power, land and connectivity across multiple regions.