Abu Dhabi's artificial intelligence investment firm MGX is weighing a takeover of DayOne, a Singapore-based data center operator, according to Reuters, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
The move is still at an exploratory stage, the sources told Reuters, meaning no deal has been struck and the talks could fall apart. But the interest is notable given how recently DayOne signaled a very different path to growth.
Just last month, sources told Reuters that DayOne was planning to go public in the United States at a valuation of around $20 billion. An acquisition by MGX would represent an alternative outcome to that IPO, potentially folding the company into an Abu Dhabi-backed portfolio rather than listing its shares on a public market.
MGX is positioned as a dedicated AI investor, and data centers are the physical backbone of the current AI boom. The vast computing power needed to train and run AI models depends on these facilities, which house the servers and specialized chips doing the work. Control over data center capacity has become a strategic asset, and Gulf wealth funds have been moving aggressively to secure a foothold in the infrastructure underpinning the technology.
Neither the source items nor Reuters indicate a price for the potential acquisition, a timeline, or whether DayOne and MGX have entered formal negotiations.
Why it matters: the talks show how Gulf money is racing to own the physical infrastructure behind artificial intelligence, and a buyout could redirect a company once bound for a $20 billion public listing into Abu Dhabi's hands instead.