Cogent Communications to Sell 10 Data Centers to I Squared Capital

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2026 – Cogent Communications, a multinational Tier 1 Internet Service Provider based in Washington, D.C., has agreed to sell 10 data centers for $225 million in cash to I Squared Capital, a Miami-based global infrastructure investment firm with about $60 billion in assets.

The acquisition will help I Squared Capital create a new U.S. data center operating platform that focuses on high-density deployments, colocation and AI inference infrastructure, according to the press release.

The acquisition will provide approximately 53 megawatts of power capacity, equivalent to the power required to run roughly 40,000 homes and about 259,000 square feet of colocation space across nine U.S. markets. 

Gautam Bhandari, Co-founder, Managing Partner and Global Chief Investment Officer of I Squared Capital, said the facilities offer quality location, power and connectivity in the long-term. I Squared plans to invest $1 billion to build the new platform through customer-led expansion, capital investment and additional acquisitions.

Bhandari explained in the press release, “As AI moves from the training phase – where models are built – to the inference phase, where they are used by people and businesses every day, demand for high-density, low-latency facilities like these will only grow.”

All ten facilities are owned fee simple and have room for expansion, capable of supporting higher-density deployments with liquid- cooling enabled configurations. The data centers are well positioned for a broad range of workloads and proximity to local internet exchanges.

The facilities are in: Phoenix; Anaheim, Calif.; Burbank, Calif; Stockton, Calif; Atlanta; Chicago; Elkridge, Md.; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Houston. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.