Michigan data center buildout facilitated by private equity
June 9, 2026
Private equity firms have spent nearly $200 billion on data center deals and have been behind 80 to 90 percent of completed mergers and acquisitions in the data center-related industries in the past three years with BlackRock and Blackstone alone are pursuing deals that could put nearly 11 million energy customers at the mercy of private equity firms.
In Michigan, there are well over a dozen data centers planned for development across the state. Private equity firms have shown up in a variety of data centers projects at different stages of development in the state, including the following:
| Data Center | Location | Phase | PE Backers |
| Stargate | Saline Township | Proposed | Blackstone, PIMCO |
| Project Ironwood | Dundee Township | Withdrawn | NGP Capital, Sandbrook Capital |
| Project Cherry Blossom | Frenchtown Township | Proposed | NGP Capital, Sandbrook Capital |
| Switch Pyramid Campus | Grand Rapids | Operating | IFM Investors, DigitalBridge Partners |
Blackstone
Based in New York City, Blackstone is the largest private equity firm in the world with over $1.3 trillion in assets. Blackstone manages an $85 billion global data center platformwith a powered land bank that can support over $125 billion of future growth. This includes Blackstone’s ownership of data center companies QTS and AirTrunk as well as a joint venture with Digital Realty.
Blackstone is working with Related Digital and PIMCO to finance the $16 billion Stargate data center in Saline Township, Michigan led by Oracle and OpenAI.
Blackstone also owns at least fourteen fossil fuel companies, including pipelines, gas power plants, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals according to PESP research. The company is also trying to acquire TXNM, a regulated utility company operating in New Mexico and Texas.
NGP Energy Capital
NGP Energy Capital is a Dallas-based private equity firm and a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group. NGP co-owns Cloverleaf Infrastructure with PE-firm Sandbrook Capital, investing $300 million in the company in 2024. Cloverleaf is behind two data center projects in Michigan including the now withdrawn Project Ironwood. After the community pushback, the company pulled its pre-development agreement for the project and Cloverleaf Principal Micheal Evans said “In hindsight, Cloverleaf should have done more public communication and listening prior to bringing this forward in order to save the Township and Village staff from the negative press and general misinformation and concerns. We want to provide clear communication and also seek feedback from the community so that we can incorporate information into our agreements and documents.”
NGP also owns at least twelve fossil fuel companies, most of which are oil and gas drilling companies according to PESP research.
IFM Investors
IFM Investors (IFM) is a Melbourne, Australia- based private equity firm which co-owns Switch data centers with private equity firm DigitalBridge Partners. IFM’s website says it owns a 37% stake in Switch.
The Switch project has been a fixture in western Michigan since 2017 and has been tied to numerous controversies. Notably, Switch’s promises around job creation has not come close to the 1,000 jobs it claimed it would bring online in exchange for an over $1 million tax abatement.IFM also owns seven fossil fuel companies, including oil and gas pipelines and LNG terminals as of January 2026 according to PESP research. IFM has a Sustainable Business Report and a target to reduce emissions by 40% by 2050 compared to 2019.
