ACS currently has its main growth vector on a global level in the construction and development of data centers. The group chaired by Florentino Pérez has positioned itself as one of the leading players in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia and the opportunities offered by these markets are multiplying. Not in vain, the estimates of the Spanish multinational indicate that the investments that will be promoted in five years will reach 303,000 million dollars (284,000 million euros at the current exchange rate).
ACS plans to allocate between 1,000 and 2,000 million euros – more than any other segment – to create a portfolio of data centers and infrastructure related to AI and 5G. The objective is to reach 1 GW in 2030 in data centers – 5 GW is under analysis or negotiations – and aims for the value of the company’s participation in this segment to rise to 5,000 million euros. The group pursues its efforts both organically and inorganically, with a determined commitment. Proof of this is its participation in the bid for Nabiax, the Asterion and Telefónica data center firm valued at 1,000 million euros. Its offer, however, has been surpassed by that of the British fund Aermont.
ACS plans to hold a specific meeting with investors and analysts in the coming months to explain its growth strategy in the data center and AI sector. This was announced by Juan Santamaría, CEO of ACS and president of Hochtief, during the presentation of the German construction company’s results last Thursday. This Tuesday, the Spanish group presents its figures until September, in which it will stand out the contribution of Hochtief, which recorded a 53% increase in profit, up to 579 million euros.
ACS’s global portfolio in data centers now amounts to 7.2 billion euroswith a year-on-year increase of 64%. In this year, new orders amount to 5.8 billion, 124% more. And for next year it sees options for 50,000 million euros that it faces from a privileged position to negotiate with the large technological promoters due to their notable geographical presence.
In the ACS pipeline, the United States emerges as the market with the greatest opportunities, with an amount of 128 billion dollars (120 billion euros) in 2029. This figure is 56% higher (36 billion dollars) than the 82 billion dollars (77,000 million euros) in 2023. Europe, for its part, is heading towards 55,000 million dollars (51.6 billion euros) within five years, with a growth of 40%. But the biggest growth will come in Asia-Pacific, where penetration is still low. So, ACS has identified a portfolio of projects valued at 120 billion dollars (112.6 billion euros) in Australasia and Southeast Asia, where it carries out this activity through Pacific Partnerships, a subsidiary of Cimic. Not in vain, in the last quarter it was awarded data center contracts in Malaysia, India and Melbourne (Australia) and others have been completed or are in the delivery phase in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macao and the Philippines.
Turner added new orders in data centers for 5.3 billion dollars (5 billion euros) between January and September, compared to 2 billion dollars (almost 1.9 billion euros) in 2023. With this, the portfolio amounts to 6.7 billion dollars (6.3 billion euros), almost double that of a year before. An amount that does not include the recent award in Ohio for the Vantage Data Centers campus for 1.8 billion euros.
In addition to the United States, ACS wants to grow with Turner in Europewhere it evaluates a portfolio of advanced technology projects, mostly data centers, for more than 20 billion euros. In this bet, the company agreed last summer to acquire the Irish company Dornan. The group is already working on data center projects in the Netherlands and Spain, where in 2023, through Iridium, it agreed with Arcano to purchase and sell land in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) to build a new infrastructure. Likewise, in Germany Hochtief and Thomas-Krenn AG have created 50/50 Yorizon, whose first project plans to start in the summer of 2025 in Essen and land has already been secured for two other centers and other locations are being negotiated.
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