APAC data center firm AirTrunk is expanding into India and acquiring Lumina CloudInfra.

The Blackstone-owned operator this week announced the acquisition of Blackstone-backed Lumina CloudInfra, a developer of large-scale data centers in India. Terms of the deal were not shared.

The deal marks AirTrunk’s entry into India, a rapidly growing data center market. The companies said AirTrunk will gain immediate access to Lumina’s development pipeline, existing contracts and relationships, and operating capabilities.

The combined platform will continue to be supported by long-term capital from Blackstone and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

Robin Khuda, founder & CEO of AirTrunk, said: “India is one of the largest and fastest growing markets for hyperscale and AI infrastructure worldwide, and expanding in this market is a significant milestone for AirTrunk’s broader APAC strategy. By acquiring Lumina CloudInfra, we are uniquely positioned to deliver the scale, speed, and performance our customers need as they expand across the APAC region.”

Founded in 2018, AirTrunk was acquired by Blackstone and CPPIB for US$16.1bn in 2024 in what was the largest-ever deal in the space at the time.

AirTrunk has data center campuses in operation and development in Sydney (x3) and Melbourne (x2) in Australia, as well as Singapore; Hong Kong; Johor, Malaysia; Tokyo (x2), and Osaka (x2), Japan.

Lumina was founded by alternative investment giant Blackstone in November 2022, at the time outlining plans for 600MW of data center capacity across India. On its website, the company lists planned projects in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

Sujeet Deshpande, co-founder & CEO of Lumina CloudInfra, added: “Our team is excited to join AirTrunk as we continue building India’s digital infrastructure. Lumina enters this next chapter as a scaled operator with strong local capabilities, deep expertise, and a proven delivery track record.

Deshpande continued: “By bringing our team together with AirTrunk, we combine local strength with global platforms in design, construction, operations, safety, quality, and technology – along with access to AirTrunk’s global customer network and capital strength. Together, our teams will grow, delivering greater consistency, scale, and opportunity for our people, customers, and partners.”

The company broke ground on a 60MW project in the Airoli area of Navi Mumbai in May 2023. The first phase of that project was due to go live in 2025, but the company has yet to make any announcement about a launch.

It has since reportedly bought another plot of land in the Chandivali area of Mumbai with plans to develop a 60MW facility, and it reportedly acquired a 16-acre parcel in the Ambattur area of Chennai earlier this year for a data center campus.

Peng Wei Tan, senior managing director – real estate at Blackstone, said: “This partnership marks a meaningful expansion of our data center portfolio and reinforces one of Blackstone’s highest conviction themes, digital infrastructure. As the world’s largest investor in data centres with the leading platform in Asia Pacific, we deliver scale and deep expertise to meet the rising demand for high-quality digital infrastructure across the region’s fastest-growing economies.”

Blackstone is a major investor in the data center space. The company said it has invested more than $130 billion in data center assets since 2018 and has provided more than $10bn of debt financing to data center and digital infrastructure developers and operators.

Blackstone has a number of large-scale data center investments. The company has previously acquired QTS and AirTrunk, and has stakes in Vnet, Lumina CloudInfra, Copeland, Park Place Technologies, and Winthrop Technologies, as well as a number of joint ventures with COPT, Digital Realty, and others. It recently took a large minority stake in US data center firm Rowan and is launching a new data center REIT that is set to go public.